


An Amazing Adventure

by annie174



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 62,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23071054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annie174/pseuds/annie174
Summary: Before making some grown-up decisions, Veronica and Logan decide to go on a little adventure.
Relationships: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Comments: 155
Kudos: 207





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> A new adventure begins. This story exists in an AU pre-S4 world where Pony is still a girl, Wallace is married to Shae, Logan is Naval Intelligence and Veronica is still Veronica. None of the actual events of S4 will ever come in to play in this story. More notes at the end.

“Three months?” Veronica asked skeptically.

“Yep,” Logan grinned as he shoveled another mouthful of manicotti in his mouth.

“You are off for 3 months?”

“That is what I said,” he handed the takeout container back to her and picked up his eggplant parmesan.

Logan had been home for 2 days from his last deployment and the couple was finally coming up for some air and takeout.

“Not just shore duty, but off off, no work for three months?” Veronica considered as she ate an entire manicotti in 3 bites.

“Yes,” he looked her in the eye and smiled.

“I don’t know, dude. From zero to constant, I might get sick of you,” Veronica snarked but the light in her eyes told him different.

“I can get my own place,” he volleyed back.

She dropped the takeout container on the coffee table and tackled him then.

“Not a chance, you are mine,” she kissed him quickly, a wicked smile on her face now.

“A kept man?” I could get used to that,” he shrugged and kept her body close to his.

“The Navy has taught you some very useful skills, like bed making and mess duty. You could be my house hus…” she almost said the H word and her eyes went big.

“Keeper? Your housekeeper?” Logan teased.

“I am clearly sleep-deprived,” she chuckled.

“How about we go back to bed then?” he bobbed his eyebrows.

“The site of a good deal of not sleeping the past 48 hours,” she raised an eyebrow.

“Want to sleep out here,” he indicated the new orange couch she bought while he was away and refused to have sex on just yet.

She curled into his body more, kissed his shoulder through the clean white tee shirt he was wearing.

“I love you,” she said, her face turned from his.

“I love you too,” he kissed the top of her head and stopped talking.

***555***

“Why do you have 3 months off?” Veronica asked when Logan emerged from sleep a little bit later.

“Did you sleep?” he asked, voice gravelly and eyes blurry.

“Yeah and now I am suspicious of why you have 3 months off. Are you OK?” she asked with a frown.

Veronica had taken plenty of time examining his body over the past couple days, she was certain she had seen every inch of his perfect form, but not all injuries are physical.

“Did something happen?” she leaned up and kissed him softly.

“I’m fine,” he kissed her back and stroked her hair reassuringly, “I had some time saved and I thought we could use it.”

“For what?”

“For us,” he shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“I know my job is a challenge for us and I felt like things were a little tense before this last deployment,” Logan sighed as he sat up and brought Veronica with him, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Is that coffee?” he sniffed.

“Yeah, you were sleeping pretty hard, I made breakfast,” she kissed his cheek and hopped up heading for the small kitchen.

“Yummmm,” he hummed as he smelled the savory omelet, she had in the warm oven awaiting his awakening.

“I’m not sure I know what you are talking about, things have been fine,” Veronica returned to the original subject as she poured him coffee.

“The look on your face the last time I got called up was heartbreaking, V,” he sipped the coffee greedily.

“I’m not used to this new normal, Intelligence deployments are more sporadic. Before I had some time to hone my face,” she admitted as she leaned against the counter and watched him devour his breakfast.

“You eating?” he said between bites.

“I already ate,” she admitted with a smirk.

“I know there is a learning curve with this new assignment, it is tough for me too and now that I have completed a few missions with good results I asked to call in some of my time. I know you can’t take 3 months off, but maybe a little time, we could go away?” he asked hopefully.

“I’m sure I can make that happen,” she approached the counter and met him halfway over it in a kiss.

“We have to actually get dressed and go out of the apartment tonight,” she reminded him.

“Wallace and Shae?”

“Yeah, my dad too, Wallace invited all 3 of us,” Veronica cleared Logan’s plate and Pony trotted in looking for her parents.

“Morning, girl,” Logan patted his thigh and Pony hopped up, he rewarded her with a crumb of egg that was left on the counter.

“I’ll take her…” he didn’t dare say the word ‘out’.

“Thanks,” she smiled at him so tenderly over the rim of her coffee cup.

Veronica was trying not to show her whole spectrum of emotion, but inside she was beyond thrilled to have Logan completely to herself for 3 months. It was selfish, she knew his job was important, but he was right, she was starting to get a little tired of the 3:00 am phone calls pulling him away with no time to plan.

“We’ll figure this out, Veronica,” he came around the counter and kissed her cheek as if he could read her every thought.

***555***  
“We need to get up,” Veronica slurred a little later in the day, just on the verge of dozing off.

“You are on top of me, so I have no intention of moving until you do,” Logan drawled back.

“Like you couldn’t move me if you wanted to,” she countered.

“I really don’t want to,” he admitted.

Veronica smiled against his warm skin.

A few minutes later her phone buzzed, and she reached blindly for it on the nightstand. She had to move to see the screen, but she still refused to get off Logan, she just turned in his arms.

“Ha,” she snorted.

“What?” Logan asked and she showed him the screen.

A text from Wallace was on the phone, it simply said – “Get Dressed!”

“He knows us too well,” Logan laughed, “we have to get up.”

“Yeah,” she sighed and leaned up enough to smile at him, kissing him soundly one last time before climbing off him and sliding out of bed.

Their room was a trail of various items of clothing worn for mere moments before being discarded to the floor or the chair or on top of the lamp. Veronica kicked aside her pajama bottoms and they landed close enough to the laundry hamper as she went to the closet and found an outfit for dinner.

“I’ll start the shower,” Logan kissed her bare shoulder as he passed.

“Right behind you,” she smacked his butt as he turned away from her.

He looked back over his shoulder and winked and Veronica ‘s knees nearly buckled. She had 3 months of him here, with her, every day.

The bathroom was warm and the air thick with the smell of Logan’s pine-scented shampoo when she made her way into the shower with him.

“I missed your smell,” she admitted and kissed his chest.

In the shower, with no shoes and slippery floor she was her shortest compared to his tall frame and he had to nearly bend at the waist to kiss her properly. As he got closer, she got the full-on pine smell and her stomach dropped and her body responded to him again, how could she possibly still want him this much after the past 2 days of nearly constant sex.

She reached down and stroked him, happy to see he was just as responsive to the close proximity of their wet naked bodies.

“Do we have time?” he asked between nibbles of her earlobe.

She didn’t respond with words, just turned her back to him, bracing her hands against the tile wall and encouraging him to get on with it with a little wiggle of her hips.

“Yes, ma’am,” he nodded and held her hips to steady her as he slid in, an audible groan when he was back where he wanted to be.

Once he was certain their feet were stable, he began to move with purpose as he got closer, sliding his hands from her hips to her breasts and bringing his lips to the join of her neck and shoulder, the sweet slope he loved so much.

“Fuck, Logan,” she reached down and touched herself and he switched from kisses to bites against her neck.

He felt her legs shake and tense as he sped up and all too soon, they were both shuddering.

“That was efficient,” she turned with a smirk and patted his chest, “and very effective,” she lowered her eyes almost shyly.

Logan just pecked a kiss on her lips and reached past her for her shower gel and poof.

They were only running a few minutes late when they arrived at Wallace and Shae’s condo, her father already there and a bottle of wine open on the coffee table next to a delectable antipasto platter.

“You made it,” Wallace teased as he took Veronica’s coat and shook Logan’s hand.

“Welcome, home, man,” he said as Logan handed over the dessert box, they had picked up enroute.

“Thanks, Wallace,” Logan returned as he accepted a hug and a glass of wine from Shae.

“Glad to be home?” Keith asked as he moved over on the couch to make room for the couple.

“Always,” Logan smiled at the group.

He was amazed by the changes over the past few years. He had earned a place in this group and not just as Veronica’s boyfriend, he actually had his own relationship with all these people. It helped to have Shae in the mix, she was even newer to the crowd than he was and gave him someone to lean on when the Mars/Fennel history seemed too high to overcome.

“Thanks for coming over so soon after getting home, but Wallace and I wanted to wait for you to come home before we shared our news,” Shae said as she sat in an arm chair where Wallace took the arm as his own spot.

“What’s up?” Veronica asked as she swirled a ribbon of prosciutto on to a slice of baguette that she had smeared with brie.

“I’m pregnant,” Shae said with a smile.

“Really?” Keith beamed.

“Yes, just started my 4th month and it won’t be long before I can’t hide it anymore, so thanks for getting back Logan,” Shae laughed.

“That is great news,” Logan stood and gave Wallace a bro hug and Shae a kiss on the cheek.

Veronica was stunned, her perfectly created baguette in her hand uneaten. Finally, she shook off her surprise, dropped the snack on her napkin and joined in on the congratulations, but she was thrown off by the announcement. Shae was a lawyer, a really good one, Veronica had no idea she wanted kids. Veronica didn’t really know anyone that had or wanted kids. It left her unsettled.

Dinner was delicious and conversation flowed from baby, to Keith & Veronica’s latest case, to the Neptune High basketball team and everyone trying to guess where in the world Logan was last. The dessert Veronica picked from the bakery was delicious and everyone had too much to eat when the clock in the living room chimed midnight.

“Well, I turn in to a pumpkin around this time,” Keith groaned as he stood up, patting his overly full belly as he did.

“We should go too,” Veronica squeezed Logan’s knee.

“It has been like 7 hours,” Logan leered at her as Keith went to get their coats.

More congratulations were shared, Logan told Wallace he would catch a game or two while he was on leave, Veronica and Shae made brunch plans and finally they headed back to their cars.

“You in the office Monday?” Keith asked.

“I should be able to tear myself away by lunch time,” Veronica said as she tucked into Logan’s side, her hand in his back pocket.

“I’ll see you Tuesday,” he winked as he got in his car.

***555***

A couple weeks into Logan’s vacation, Veronica approached her dad.

“Remember that case a few months back, the Waughs?”

“Insurance fraud?” Keith looked up from his computer.

“Yeah, the travel company with the shady employee.”

“Sure,” Keith had her attention now.

“Lindsey offered me a discount if I wanted to go on one of their trips…”

“Those trips are no joke,” Keith grinned at her.

“I know, they’re pretty intense, but I thought it might be fun for Logan on his break,” she shrugged, embarrassed.

“Logan isn’t bored with you Veronica,” Keith assessed the situation.

“I know, but we never know how much time we are going to have together so this might be the best time to do something like this. If I clear my calendar is it OK if I take 3 weeks off?” she felt like she was 12 again asking for an advance on her allowance.

“Of course, if you want to go traipsing around the globe with your Navy boyfriend for 3 weeks, sleeping in tents and eating God knows what, go for it,” he smiled.

“Tents? Right…” she started to remember the research she did on Global Challenge.

“It will definitely be a bonding experience,” Keith stood then and stretched his back.

“Logan is worried about how I am handling his new job,” she admitted.

“I imagine it is hard,” Keith said supportively.

“It is, but he’s worth it, and I will get used to it and he’ll see I am in this for the long haul this time,” she rushed that confession out.

“You could marry him,” Keith suggested.

“You aren’t helping,” she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Just saying, he would be OK with that.”

“Have you talked about marriage with my boyfriend?”

“No, but trust me, he would marry you tomorrow if you showed even the slightest bit of interest in that.”

“Let’s start with a 3-week adventure vacation and see if we still like each other,” Veronica joked to avoid the topic and went back to her office to call her former client.

***555***

“Ever watch The Amazing Race?” Veronica asked that night over dinner Logan had cooked for her.

“A few times yeah, why?”

“I had a client while you were away, they run a travel company that runs Amazing Race style adventure tours. I thought we might do one, while you’re on leave.”

“Yeah?” he looked intrigued.

“I mean it is not first-class flights and 5 start hotels, but we could see a bunch of places and there are challenges and team building things and it would be 3 weeks away from Neptune,” she listed the pros.

“Veronica, I will go anywhere with you. Is this because Shae is pregnant?”

“What?” she looked up from her plate.

“You’ve been squirrely since Shae and Wallace told us about the baby,” his voice was soft and kind and supportive and so grown-up Logan.

“I feel like life is flying by and soon we are going to be faced with hard decisions about what we want our family to look like,” she said honestly.

“I know your job is a constant international adventure, but we never really get to have those adventures together and I thought before we tackle those big decisions, we should have one big adventure,” she pushed her uneaten fish around her plate.

“Let’s do it,” Logan smiled his brightest smile.

TBC…


	2. Great Heights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventure takes off for parts soon-to-be-known!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the great response to this story idea, I loved every single comment and appreciate the feedback so much!
> 
> It feels like a lifetime has passed in the week between chapters. I know life is scary for everyone these days and I hope this story gives you a couple minutes of diversion. I hope you are all safe and taking all the necessary precautions to stay well.

“Thanks for driving us, Dad,” Veronica patted her dad on the shoulder as he maneuvered through the signs at Dodger Stadium in LA.

“Any chance to see a ballpark,” Keith grinned, his sunglasses hiding the mirth in his eyes.

“It is a cool place to start,” Logan agreed as he looked out the back windows.

“You kids sure about this?” Keith was giving them an out.

“Now that I have said my good-byes to Pony, I think I am OK,” Veronica sighed.

“I’ll try not to be offended that you are going to miss your dog more,” Keith noted as he pulled into a space and Logan laughed.

“You have to give her lots of snuggles,” Veronica continued as if she hadn’t heard anything.

“Your dog will be fine. As will your father,” Keith said as he got out and stretched his legs.

Logan moved to the back and grabbed their packs.

“Do you have everything?” Keith eyed the packs skeptically.

“Logan has an actual merit badge in packing,” Veronica scoffed, “we’ll be fine.”

“And you’ll be careful,” Keith rocked back on his heels in feigned nonchalance.

“Have you seen him?” Veronica hooked a thumb at Logan, “I’ll be fine.”

“She’ll be fine,” Logan echoed.

“Have fun, I guess,” Keith clapped his hands and held his arms out for a hug, which Veronica gave him eagerly. Logan shook his hand and assured they would touch base whenever they could.

“See you in 3 weeks,” Veronica smiled as she walked backwards away from her dad.

“I can take that,” Veronica indicated her pack and just as she shouldered it a young guy in khaki shorts and a clipboard approached.

“Hey there, folks!”

“Hello,” Logan smiled and extended a hand, “I’m Logan, this is Veronica.”

“Awesome. You can just drop your packs on that cart,” he indicated a small luggage cart attached to a tractor, “and I will check you in. I’m Adam.”

The young guy flipped through his clipboard and consulted a tablet.

“OK, you two are all set, all your paper work is in order, thank you for that by the way, you can head in to the stadium, take a look around we will gather on the infield grass at 3:00 pm sharp.”

Without the bulk of their packs, Logan wrapped an arm around Veronica, and they strolled along.

“Do you know who else is on this trip?” Logan asked, he had had very little to do with the planning of all this.

Once Veronica suggested it she ran with it and other than getting a doctor’s note of his fitness and lack of imminent medical worries, Logan didn’t ask a lot of questions.

“No, just that it is all pairs. They have a singles adventure, a pairs adventure and a group thing, like team bonding type for corporations and college groups. We’re in the pairs group.”

“So, a couples retreat?” he arched an eyebrow.

“Not exactly, it can be any pairing: friends, siblings, parent/child. I could’ve brought dad, but he isn’t as fun to snuggle with on planes,” she teased.

“Fascinating,” Logan said vaguely.

“Huh?”

“The interpersonal dynamics should be very fun to watch,” he shrugged.

“Therapy Logan is in the house.”

“You’re the one with the psychology degree, aren’t you curious about these other people?”

Now that they were in the park, they could see a few other pairs, some older some younger some all-male, some all-female, some mixed.

“I have a feeling I won’t have a choice; we will be living with them all for 3 weeks,” she pulled in a little closer to him.

“Don’t worry my little misanthrope, I am sure some of them are nice,” he kissed her head as they walked the outfield track slowly.

***555***

“Good afternoon, everyone. If you could all gather around the mound,” a man stood on the pitcher’s mound with a portable microphone.

Logan and Veronica approached with 12 other pairs of people, when everyone was close enough the man continued.

“My name is Mark Lewis and I am your Global Challenge host for the next 3 weeks. I will be with you in all of your exciting destinations, giving you your clues for each day, facilitating meals and sleeping arrangements. At the beginning of each leg you will be given a little bit of cash in the local currency to cover all your expenses except airfare and your final meal and pit stop. Pit stops can be hotels, they can be more communal like indoor stadiums or even outdoor tents depending on the location. You can use that cash for whatever you need during the day, cabs, snacks, newspapers or maps, whatever…”

A hand went up.

“Yes?” Mark asked.

“Can we save our cash up if we don’t use it?”

“Absolutely, but it will be in local currency so if we move you are responsible for exchanging it. Great question, any other questions?”

“I read that we cannot get business class airline tickets, but if we are willing to pay for the upgrade?” a younger woman asked hopefully.

“You can, but you will be disqualified for that leg and lose all your potential points…”

“What points?” Logan whispered and Veronica just nudged him.

“For each leg of the race you will get points for your place int hat leg. There are 13 teams, so if you come in first you get 13 points, second 12 and so on down to 1. At the end of the race, the team with the most points will win a 2 week all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world,” Veronica just grinned up at a stunned Logan.

“I want to win,” she whispered.

“Your first clue and your first destination are in the envelopes on top of the bags you brought with you, just through those gates,” Mark pointed to gates on the opposite side of the park than they entered, “along with a car for each team to get you to LAX. This is a race from the moment I say go, so be smart, travel safe and enjoy the journey. Ready? Go!” Mark yelled and all 26 people took off for the gate.

Veronica kept up with Logan just fine and they found their bags easily. Veronica tore open the clue as Logan tossed the bags in the back of the car.

“Make your way to Milan, Italy,” Veronica said as she hopped in the passenger seat. “Let’s lose these yahoos!”

“I do know a very fast way to get to LAX,” Logan grinned.

“I have no doubt that my super spy boyfriend is going to know all the best routes everywhere,” she laughed.

Logan tore out of the parking lot and kept his eye on the rearview as if he was worried about a hostile tail.

“There are 3 choices for flights, the first one is Swiss Air, let’s try for that. I bet they serve chocolate on their flights,” Veronica noted as she read through the rest of the clue.

Logan just shook his head with a smile.

“We have to park in Lot 1,” Veronica said as she started to see signs for LAX.

“You got it, babe,” he signaled and moved over to make the exit.

They grabbed their bags, handed off the keys to the vehicle and hopped on to a shuttle to the Tom Bradley international terminal without seeing another team.

There was a marked ticket counter at Swiss Air, just for them.

“We are going to Milan, but before we ticket could you possibly check a couple other airlines for me?” Logan asked with his son-of-a-movie star smile, “I want to make sure we are picking the right option.”

“Smart,” Veronica said quietly as Logan read off the other flight numbers.

“Just because we take off first doesn’t mean anything when it comes to connections,” he said to Veronica and then turned back to the ticket agent, “and what is the on-time percentage of our connecting flight?”

“90%,” she smiled proudly.

“We’ll take it, thank you so much for being so helpful,” he smiled genuinely this time and Veronica found it much more attractive than the other one.

“So, we have 4 hours to kill,” Logan noted as he looked at the boarding time.

“Snack?” Veronica perked up.

“How much cash do we have?”

“$20 US and 100 Euros,” she had it all organized in her bag.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine we need that $20 for anything other than a snack,” Logan directed her towards some food options.

After buying some nuts and water, Logan and Veronica found their gate area and sat to wait. After about 45 minutes another familiar looking pair appeared, a man and woman younger than they were, but holding hands in a way that indicated they were a couple.

“Hey,” the woman waved.

“Hey,” Veronica smiled back.

“I’m Millie, this is Chuck,” she said with a bit of a Southern accent.

“Veronica, Logan,” Veronica pointed to each of them in turn.

“Nice to meet you, you from around here?”

“Down by San Diego,” Logan replied.

“Cool, we’re from Alabama.”

“Well, you made it to LAX, so you are doing pretty good,” Veronica grinned.

“It was a little harrowing,” Millie admitted, Chuck didn’t seem to talk much.

The other 2 teams on that first flight arrived: Russel and Cindy who introduced themselves as just friends and gave no physical indication that they were more than that and Reichen and Chip who also introduced as just friends, but seemed like a whole lot more.

Pleasantries were exchanged and then everyone kind of drifted off waiting for the flight to board.

Logan had gotten them the best seats he could in the third row of economy, none of the other teams were in front of them. Veronica gave him the window seat and she took the aisle, a young woman was on the aisle, she smiled and put her earbuds in and was asleep before taxi.

“Jealous,” Veronica said as she indicated their sleeping seatmate.

“Once we are off the ground, we can get comfy and hopefully get some sleep,” Logan said as he arranged a few things in his seatback and fastened his seatbelt.

“Maybe this was a bad idea?” Veronica said suddenly.

“The trip? Little late for that?” Logan grinned.

“We’re still in LA,” Veronica said just as the flight attendant announced the aircraft door was closed.

“Too late,” Logan whispered in her ear and placed a kiss there.

After a short layover in Zurich, the teams on Logan and Veronica’s flight were in Milan just after morning rush hour. Logan got a cab and told the driver where they needed to go and soon they were dropped in their first challenge location: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It was an historic building that had been turned in to a shopping mall full of fancy high end stores and some delightful smells. Veronica’s stomach grumbled.

“Let’s knock this challenge out and get you some coffee and breakfast,” Logan suggested.

“No arguments here,” Veronica agreed as another team arrived from the airport.

In the middle of the rotunda a box with the Global Challenge flag on it stood like a mailbox.

“That’s it,” Veronica ran up and opened it pulling an envelope out.

“OK, there are tickets to 3 charter busses hidden here in the Galleria. The busses are 2 hours apart. Once you take a ticket you must keep it,” she summarized.

“OK, let’s go,” Logan headed off deeper into the galleria.

After checking behind fake bushes and under café tables, Veronica finally spotted something in a faux window box outside a boutique.

“Here!” she yelled as she reached for it.

“Wait!” Logan called and she froze as it were a bomb.

“Can you see the time on it?”

“4:00 am,” she read.

“Leave it. If we take it we are stuck with it, let’s look for a little longer, we have at least 40 minutes on flight two. If we find another and it is earlier, we’ll take that and if not, we can come back here,” he laid it out so perfectly.

“Smart guy,” she smiled and shook her head and they set off again.

“Coffee…” she whined a bit and wandered towards a café.

“Soon,” Logan followed though and as he reached to tug her hand his eye caught something under the sandwich board advertising ristrettos and cappuccinos, “can you see that one?” he tried to get down low enough, but couldn’t.

“2:00 am,” she smiled.

“Grab it,” he smiled back, even if there was a midnight option, they would still be 2 hours ahead of several other teams.

Veronica snatched the tickets and ordered their breakfast in no time flat. They had the whole day in Milan, once they figured out where the charter bus departed from, they could go out and do some sightseeing.

“We have enough cash for a simple lunch and maybe a nicer dinner before the charter bus,” Logan was counting out their cash in his head.

“OK, but we might want to get tickets to something, I am happy with a cheese sandwich if I can see the Duomo,” Veronica said as she ate her luscious egg and cheese croissant.

“We passed a tourist information booth during our scavenger hunt, maybe we can get some help,” Logan said as he waved to Reichen and Chip who were holding tickets they found somewhere other than there at the café they were at.

“Wonder what time they got?” Veronica asked.

“Are we really trying to win this thing?” Logan asked and Veronica shrugged.

“I know the trip is not as big a deal for us since you’re, you know, rich,” she shuddered at the word with a smirk.

“But…”

“But, I am a little competitive,” she held her finger and thumb very close together and he reached out and snatched her hand and kissed it.

***555***

At 1:30 am Logan and Veronica arrived at the spot for the charter bus, there Millie & Chuck from their flight earlier and 2 new pairs they hadn’t met yet were also waiting.

“I’m Steve, this is my son Josh,” an older fellow said as he held out his hand to Logan. “I’m a corrections officer and Josh is in college.”

“Logan,” Logan said, and Veronica added her name with a wave.

The other pair was David & Jeff who turned out to be financial planners from LA.

“What do you two do?” Steve asked as they waited for the bus.

“I’m in the Navy,” Logan said and nodded when Steve thanked him for his service.

“That must be tough for you,” Millie chimed in addressing Veronica with sympathy.

“I’m getting used to it,” Veronica laced her fingers through Logan’s.

“What do you do Veronica?”

“I’m a PI,” she said causally.

“You?” Josh, Steve’s previously quiet son looked shocked.

“Yes,” Veronica said slowly, and Logan squeezed her hand.

“Wow, like a private investigator?” Josh continued.

“That is what PI stands for, yes,” Veronica was smiling her dangerous smile and just then the bus pulled up.

It was a small 15-seater, and the seats were comfortable, and everyone got to spread out, the guys each took a two-seater and the couples snuggled up together.

“You sick of me yet?” Veronica asked as they rumbled over the road on to a highway to who knows where.

“Never,” Logan kissed her and tucked her in to his side.

Veronica woke hours later to soft morning light over mountains. Everyone around her was awake including Logan.

“The Alps?” she asked as she stretched.

“I don’t think so, maybe the Dolomites,” Logan said as he offered her some water.

A Global Challenge staff person met them in the center of Cortina d’Ampezzo where they were given their next challenge. They had to get to Cinque Torri. That was all it said.

“Time to meet the locals,” Logan smiled as he dug out their lightweight winter coats and boots, the climate much more wintery in the mountains.

They found a convenience store that also sold coffee, Italy so far was full of excellent coffee, and Logan charmed his way through some directions in English while she fixed them coffee to go.

They had to take a public bus to Cinque Torri and needed exact change. Logan got the change they needed and a map with the quarter mile walk to the closest bus stop marked. He then shouldered his pack and took his coffee from Veronica who had also bought a couple bananas and granola bars. They ate at the bus stop while they waited for the bus, eventually Millie & Chuck were there as well.

“Is this the vacation you thought you were going to have?” Veronica asked as she finished her granola bar.

“I’m with you for 3 whole weeks, we could be anywhere, Italy sure isn’t bad,” he smiled and kissed her.

“Awwww,” Millie teased.

“I’ve been away on a deployment,” Logan blushed at how mushy he was.

“What do you do in the Navy?” Millie asked.

“Fly,” Logan grinned, his Intelligence role was not for public consumption.

“For real?” Chuck perked up now.

Logan just nodded.

“That is so cool,” the younger guy was suddenly much more interested in Logan.

The bus pulled up and Logan paid their fare as Veronica stashed their packs. He knew they had about a 30-minute ride with 7 stops from the woman at the store, so he paid close attention to his watch and the marked bus stops as the bus only stopped if requested.

Logan didn’t have to worry though as most of the people on the bus were getting off at Cinque Torri which seemed to be a ski resort.

A Global Challenge rep handed them their next envelope and a ticket for the chair lift. He kept their gear and told them they would get it at the end. Logan had the foresight to get their hats and gloves. He tucked the clue away until they got off the chair lift for fear of dropping it in to the valley below. The day was cold but bright and sunny and the snow-covered mountains were beyond beautiful and so foreign to the Californians on the chair lift. Logan loved the huge smile on Veronica’s face.

When they successfully got off the lift there was an old-fashioned wooden sign with arrows pointing in two directions: “Search” and “Rescue”.

Logan took the clue from inside his coat and tore it open.

“Detour,” he said, and they knew that was a challenge with a choice of two paths.

“Let me guess,” Veronica chuckled, “search or rescue?”

“Got it in one,” Logan smiled back and handed the clue over.

“If we search we walk through a large snow field with a locator beacon to find a key to a snowmobile to ride back down to Cortina and if we rescue we have to cross a cable rescue bridge, zipline and hike the rest of the way down the mountain.”

“Second one sounds infinitely faster, how do you feel about heights?” Logan reasoned.

“OK, I guess. I’d rather do that than walk around in the snow randomly,” Veronica shrugged.

“Which way do we go?” Logan joked looking around blindly until Veronica turned him in the direction of the signpost and pushed him.

The snow in this part of the course was pretty packed down and while it was cold, the sun was bright and warm on Veronica’s cheeks. Logan took her gloved hand in his and they followed the path up to the rescue bridge.

There was a good size crew up there and a breath-taking view.

“Look at this,” Veronica gasped as they looked out among the surrounding mountains.

“It is amazing,” Logan agreed and leaned down to kiss her chapped lips.

“You folks ready to cross?” the young guy with an Italian accent asked.

It was then that Veronica saw what they were about to do. The “bridge” was 4 cables, 2 for your feet and one on each side around waist high to hold over a very open very vast canyon between 2 rock outcroppings.

“Oh, holy hell,” she stuttered.

“You OK?” Logan whipped his head back to her.

“Uh, yeah,” she swallowed but there was no saliva in her mouth.

“You will be all harnessed up, if you fall, we will have you,” the Italian guy, who looked quite strong indicated his crew of other young strong guys who all waved.

“Uh huh,” Veronica nodded a little dazed.

“You want me in front of you or behind you?” Logan asked as he started getting in his harness like he did this kind of thing every day and Veronica wondered if he did.

“In front…no behind...no in front,” Veronica kept changing her mind.

“It would be more stable for you if he was behind you,” the guy suggested.

“Behind me it is,” Veronica laughed but it was a hollow laugh.

“We can change?” Logan took her hands.

“Nope, this is supposed to be about stretching ourselves,” Veronica said as she let the young guy put her harness on.

Logan just nodded, deciding to save his words of praise for when they were all done.

Veronica got her boots on to the cables.

“Point your toes out a bit,” the instructor encouraged.

Veronica did as she was told as her gloves gripped the side cables tightly.

“Slide step, one foot at a time and you will be fine,” the instructor encouraged.

“We are way ahead of other teams babe, Millie and Chuck must have done the other challenge, take your time,” Logan said as he strapped his helmet on.

Veronica just nodded and started off. Slide the left foot move the right hand, slide the right foot move the left hand. The cables were shaking or maybe just her legs and she could not look down at the nothing underneath her, but the view ahead continued to dazzle.

Logan had to wait until she was far enough ahead before adding his weight to the cables, he did not want to cause a ripple for her. He moved slow to keep the distance needed and his eyes never left Veronica’s back. 

Veronica could see the team on the other side waiting for her, they were cheering her on and acting quite adorably so she smiled at them with an eye roll they may or may not have been able to see from that distance and picked up her pace a little bit. It was easier to go faster, if your legs didn’t stop moving, they couldn’t shake as much and soon she was on the other side and the guys there were helping her up the small rock ledge she had to get over.

“Good job, babe!” Logan called from halfway across.

Veronica saw him moving fast now and she knew he had gone slow for her.

“Get over here, dude, we got work to do,” she called back with a real laugh this time.

The ziplining was much less scary and Veronica squealed with glee the whole way down, when Logan came down behind her she launched herself into his arms when they were free of their gear.

“So fun!” she buried her cold nose in his neck, and he squeezed her tight.

“I think the fun is over, that looks like quite a hike down,” Logan looked and there was nothing but snow ahead of them, a few posts with flags dotted the landscape to keep them on track.

The tightly packed snow gave way to softer fluffier snow that was tougher to slog through and even more so for Logan’s diminutive girlfriend.

“I feel like I am being swallowed,” she said miserably.

Logan glanced back and had to bite back a laugh, the snow nearly up to Veronica’s thighs.

“Get on my back,” he stopped and crouched down.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I am not letting you carry me,” she swatted at him.

“I have carried heavier through worse conditions,” he said causally, and Veronica’s mind raced again about what his life was like at work.

“I’m fine,” she smiled her reassurance.

About 20 minutes later, “Logan?”

“Yes, buttercup?”

“Remember when you offered to carry me…?”

“I do, you called me ridiculous,” he parried back.

“Not you, never you, the idea was a little ridiculous at the time…”

“Twenty minutes ago?” Logan consulted his watch.

“Logan…” she growled but her voice seemed further away, and Logan looked back to see she was definitely losing pace, “I’m sorry I said it was ridiculous.”

Logan looked ahead and saw more flags but no real end in sight just yet, so he back tracked and let Veronica climb on his back.

“I love you,” she kissed his neck.

“I know,” he turned his face to meet her kiss.

“Do you?” she asked as he trudged easily through the deep snow towards the next flag.

“Love you?” he asked concerned.

“No, do you know that I love you? I know I don’t actually say it much,” she rested her chin on his shoulder and continued to marvel at the scenery.

“Of course I do, Veronica, of course I do,” he promised.

“Is that a snow mobile?” Veronica nearly stood up on Logan’s back causing him to counter her weight awkwardly.

“Careful, V, you are light but not weightless,” Logan chuckled.

“Sorry, but there,” Veronica pointed.

“Yep, Chuck & Millie must have found that key fast,” Logan sighed.

“So, we aren’t first anymore,” she pouted a bit.

“Let the kids win, we just ziplined over the Dolomites.”

When they got to the bottom of the course there was more than a clue box, there was Mark and a crowd of skiers.

“Hey there,” Mark waved them over.

“Congratulations you have reached your first pit stop! You are the second team to arrive, great job.”

Logan let Veronica slide off his back and stomped off the snow that had accumulated on his boots and pants.

“We’re done for today?” Veronica asked.

“You are, it was a long leg with the travel, so you are done, and your gear is inside in your room. Welcome to the Hotel Lajadira. Dinner will be at 7:00 in the ballroom, you are free until then. If you would like to ski or snowboard you are welcome to use the facilities,” Mark handed over a hotel key pack and an envelope of info on the resort.

“Thanks,” Logan shook Mark’s hand and Veronica smiled at all of the locals who were there to welcome them.

The hotel was a gorgeous ski lodge with a huge lofty lobby with a massive stone fireplace. Logan pointed at the elevators and consulted their key pack to figure out the floor. Their room was at the end of the hall and Logan opened the door letting Veronica in first.

“Ooooh, this is nice,” Veronica said as she stripped her outwear off and made for the bathroom.

Logan found their gear and started to unpack a few things.

“Shower?” he called as he heard Veronica flush.

“Yes, please,” she poked her head out and he saw she was already taking off her clothes.

He joined her and found a lovely bathroom with a nice large stall shower.

“If we wash our socks and underwear, we should have time for them to dry,” Veronica suggested.

“Definitely, there is a fire going out there, you missed it on your beeline to the bathroom,” he laughed as he used the facilities himself.

“I had to pee for like an hour and since I was on your back, I did not think you would appreciate it if I did,” she laughed.

“Thank you for sparing me that on our first day of this adventure,” he kissed her cheek and reached past her to get the water going.

“I feel so gross,” Veronica admitted, it had been a long time since her last shower and a lot of airplanes and busses between her and hot water.

The shower began as functional and ended with Veronica sliding up against Logan with a look of lust in her eyes.

“Thank you,” she kissed his wet chest, “for carrying me,” she licked water droplets from his clavicle.

Logan turned off the water, reached out to get a towel and patted Veronica down gently before doing the same to himself and then picked her up again and carried her to the bed.

“I’ll carry you anywhere as long as I am able to,” he said as he leaned over her warm body.

Veronica reached up with both arms, one hand running into his wet hair and the other tugging his shoulder closer as her legs wrapped around his waist. He was more than ready for her and she pulled him in closer until he was exactly where she wanted him, she bit her lip and swallowed a groan.

“So good,” Logan bit out as he started to move his hips against hers and tilted his head to capture her warm soft nipple in his mouth.

“We’re in Italy,” she said suddenly, and his head popped up with a grin on it.

“Oooo our first Italian sex,” he said as he shifted the angle and she arched against him in approval of the new sensation.

Veronica squeezed him tighter and laughed.

The sex was slow and satisfying and lazy and perfect and when they were done Logan arranged Veronica’s body over his and she finally looked around at the room.

There was a stone fireplace roaring, a basket of snacks and a bottle of wine on the coffee table.

“Oooo snacks!” she was up out of the bed in a shot.

“I feel slightly used,” Logan fake pouted.

“We had sex first, now it is snack time,” she said as she tore open the cellophane and unearthed crackers and cheese straws and nuts and cheese.

She started tossing things at the bed and Logan, distracted by some flying cheese, was struck in the head by a tin of nuts.

“Careful, babe, I might need to carry you somewhere tomorrow,” he rubbed at his head.

“Oh god, sorry,” she laughed as she brought the wine, glasses and corkscrew to the bed.

She kissed his temple and handed him the wine to open as she crawled over him and opened the snacks.

“Think this will hold you over until dinner?” he indicated the spread she was creating.

“For food, yes? I’ll probably need a little more sex though,” she winked and took the proffered wine, clinking her glass against his.

TBC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never been to Italy and it was great to do some research on Milan and read about so many of the amazing locations throughout Italy. I know things in Italy are especially dire right now and it was so wonderful to read about the country and the food and the people, it made me feel closer to them. I work in the travel industry and I travel a lot. When we are all on the other side of this, I am absolutely visiting Italy. If any of you reading are in Italy, my heart is with you all. <3


	3. That's Amore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more fun in the snow before a change of scenery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there. Seems every week I post, things are a little more dire, but I for one have spent a lot of time reading fanfic, so I hope this helps somebody find a little distraction.

By the time Logan and Veronica made it down for dinner there were 10 other teams already there and the smell of delicious food perked up Veronica’s jetlag. There was a buffet along the back wall of a small ballroom and 3 big round tables set with glasses and silverware.

“It is kismet that we wound up in Italy first,” Veronica tugged him towards the buffet as Mark approached.

“Veronica, Logan, good to see you! Just wanted to point out this dish here,” he indicated a chaffing dish of pasta vegetables and shrimp, “has shellfish in it.”

“Thanks, Mark,” Logan chuckled at the obvious shrimp in the dish, “luckily it is usually easy to see shrimp, it’s the crab that will sneak up on ya.”

“You haven’t let shellfish kill you yet, but I want to be as helpful as I can,” the guy shrugged, and Logan smiled.

“I appreciate you looking out,” he said sincerely, “luckily this one will test anything and eat anything that might harm me.”

“Is that Ossobucco?” Veronica asked with a gleam in her eye at the dish of meat in front of her.

“Absolutely, a specialty here,” Mark promised.

“Babe, I’m in heaven,” Veronica sighed.

“Enjoy your dinner,” Mark chuckled and left them to their perusal of the buffet.

Veronica piled her plate high and when it was full, she added stuff to Logan’s and they made their way to a table with Millie and Chuck at it, they got along well with the younger couple.

Also, at that table were 2 women they had not met yet, the 2 financial advisers from their minibus ride and the older couple that was on their flight out of LA.

“Veronica, Logan join us,” Millie waved as they got closer and Logan pulled out a chair for Veronica as they sat down.

“Logan,” he raised a hand.

“Veronica,” she smiled and dug into her food.

The 2 women they hadn’t met yet introduced themselves, they were friends from Texas, Tian and Jaree.

Everyone talked about how gorgeous the mountains were, Millie and Chuck had gone skiing when they got back, but considering they took the snowmobile down Logan figured they had the energy for skiing. He though his and Veronica’s afternoon was much more enjoyable though and as if she could read his mind she reached under the table and squeezed his knee.

Logan realized they had skipped the bar on the mission to load up on food.

“Wine?” he asked Veronica.

“Ooo, yes please,” she had already had a couple glasses up in their room and she was enjoying the relaxed buzz.

“Can I get anyone else anything?” Logan asked the table.

“I’ll have another glass of red, if it isn’t too much trouble,” Tian asked with batted eyelashes that caught Veronica’s attention.

“Not at all,” Logan stood and headed across the room.

“I’m sorry we flew by you guys,” Millie said to Veronica.

“Oh, it’s fine, we had fun in the snow,” Veronica grinned.

“So, Veronica, how do you & Logan know each other?” Jaree asked.

“Please tell me he is your brother,” the one with the long eyelashes, Tian, added.

Veronica snorted.

“Not my brother,” she shook her head.

“Childhood best friend you’ve never had romantic feelings for?” she tried again.

“Try again,” Veronica sopped up some sauce with her bread.

“Gay best friend?” the woman was running out of options.

Chuck laughed this time, “Logan flies planes for the Navy.”

“Gay men fly planes for the Navy,” Veronica snapped quickly.

Chuck was properly embarrassed, “sorry, you know what I mean though, he’s pretty manly.”

“Plenty of manly gay men,” Veronica pointed out, less hostile this time, “but yes, Logan is not gay.”

Logan picked that moment to return with a bottle of red wine and 2 glasses, he poured Tian hers and then turned to Veronica.

“What’s this about me being gay?” he smirked.

“Tian is trying to determine how we know each other. Last guess was you were my gay best friend.”

“Don’t tell Wallace you have a gay best friend,” Logan poured Veronica’s wine.

“I could use a gay best friend,” Veronica mused.

“Maybe he could improve your wardrobe,” Logan suggested.

“Hey,” she poked him, “I thought you liked my look, what happened to ‘you should only wear that’?”

Jaree turned to her friend, “No luck girl, they are clearly married.”

“We’re not married,” Veronica corrected.

“Yet,” Logan added, and Veronica narrowed her eyes at him.

“Chuck and I are getting married,” Millie said and held her hand up to show off her engagement ring.

“That’s awesome,” Logan smiled and changed the conversation to Chuck and Millie’s possible wedding dates.

***555***

“What did you mean at dinner?” Veronica said later as they were lying in bed, jetlag and her earlier nap making sleep hard to achieve.

“Huh?” Logan said groggily, he was more used to jetlag and could always sleep anywhere.

“You said we weren’t married, yet.”

“You were the one who said we have to make some decisions soon, about what our family looks like. I know marriage is not your thing V, and if you don’t want to get married that is fine, but I think we should discuss what that means to the Navy, to maybe buying a house or having a family with more than just Pony in it,” he said with no judgement and no guilt.

“Yeah,” she knew he was right, “I know why I am so afraid of marriage, but I also know that I don’t want anything other than you forever.”

Logan smiled, wide, she could see his back teeth and he reached out and gathered her in his arms, kissed the crown of her head.

“Go to sleep Veronica, we have another adventure ahead of us tomorrow.”

***555***  
Finishing at the top of the pack not only scored you more points towards the final tally, but it also gave you a head start on the next leg as you left in the order you arrived.

It was still dark when Logan and Veronica made their way down to the lobby of the lodge and met Mark who handed them their next envelope.

“Head on foot to Trampolino Olimpico,” Veronica read.

“Don’t suppose you can give us directions?” Logan asked Mark with a grin.

“You are on your own,” Mark smiled and rocked back on his heels.

“I got this,” Veronica smiled and headed over to the concierge desk where her Amber persona got her an answer, a map and complimentary cappuccino to go.

“Hey what about me?” Logan frowned as Veronica drank her beverage and plotted their route in the dark.

“You don’t get to do all the sweet talking this trip,” she smiled and handed over the coffee, “let’s go!”

Logan let Veronica lead him out into the cold dark early morning, he could’ve validated her route, but he trusted her not to get them too lost and he enjoyed the journey with her, wherever she took them.

Sure enough after about 15 minutes of walking they saw both signs for Trampolino Olimpico and for Global Challenge. When they got to the base of a serious ski jump there were minivans with what appeared to be inflatable boats on top of them.

“What are we in for now?” Veronica sked out loud as a young man approached and clapped his hands.

Before he could say anything however, they heard a high-pitched squeal as one of the boats Veronica spied came whizzing down the ski slope with Chuck and Millie in it. They only had a 20-minute lead on Logan and Veronica, so they must have taken a little more time getting to the site.

“You ready for some fun?” the young fellow asked as Millie toppled out of the raft laughing and trying to catch her breath.

“That’s a lot of fun for before sunrise,” Veronica hesitated.

“Vic will be your driver he will get you up to the top, getting down is your job,” the staffer smiled and pointed to a van where, Vic presumably, toasted them with a cup of coffee.

Once at the top of the ski slope a team of guys held the inflatable boat down and instructed Logan to get in first.

“Weight at the back and you should plan on holding on to her, she is light enough to fly right out,” one fellow said as he handed them each helmets.

“Safety first,” Veronica rolled her eyes.

“I’ll keep you in the boat,” Logan promised.

“Like that time we went to Catalina in 9th grade?” she arched an eyebrow.

“That was different, that time I pushed you out of the boat. On purpose.”

“And here we are 20 years later,” she laughed.

“I liked you and didn’t know how to express myself at that young an age,” he shrugged.

“Most boys pull a girl’s pigtails, not push them off a yacht.”

“I knew you could swim and the look on your face was priceless…”

Veronica rose up on her tiptoes in an effort to get closer to Logan’s face when a crew member interrupted.

“You guys ready to go?” he asked hopefully.

“Yep,” Logan kissed her nose and hopped into the raft as the guys anchored it.

Veronica got in in front of Logan and scooted back so her back was against his chest and let him wrap his arms around her. She turned to kiss his cheek to let him know she wasn’t mad really and he squeezed her a little tighter.

The guys behind them started to pull the raft back almost like a slingshot as they counted down from five and the next thing they new they were hurtling down the mountain, snow kicking up around them stung their faces and the cold air caught in their lungs as they laughed. More than once the raft caught a little air and Veronica worried they would tip over, but Logan would correct their trajectory like he was flying his plane and she would feel the earth meet them gently again.

It took no time at all to get to the bottom and Logan and Veronica were as giddy as Chuck and Millie before them as they stumbled out of the boat, on shaky legs as if it had actually been at sea.

“Can we go again?” Veronica hopped up and down like a child at an amusement park, but other teams were arriving and there was a line.

“I have your next clue,” Vic the driver who had their bags handed it over.

“Thank you!” Veronica waved as Logan tore open the envelope.

“Next stop is Ponte Della Guglia Bridge in Venice,” Logan smiled, “we have to get there by train.”

“I love trains!” Veronica said randomly.

“Really?” Logan had no idea.

“Yeah, when I lived in New York I took trains all the time to Boston and Philly and DC, it was so much more efficient than flying. Comfier, better amenities,” she shrugged.

“Awesome, well let’s head back to the hotel and get a taxi to the train station.”

Veronica brought her Amber persona back in to the hotel and went back to her friend at the concierge desk. It turned out that there was a train station slightly further from the hotel that had direct trains to Venice, the closest train station would require them to change trains and wait out a layover en route.

When they got to the train station the next train to Venice was in 40 minutes and Chuck and Millie were already there.

“Awww, you figured it out,” Millie faux complained complete with an ‘aww shucks’ look.

“Curious to see who else makes this train,” Logan said as Reichen and Chip arrived followed by Tian and Jaree.

The train was crowded, but the teams got 2 4-seaters across the aisle from each other and Logan and Veronica were happy to have Chuck and Millie as their seatmates. Reichen and Chip and Tian and Jaree immediately started a card game as the train pulled out of the station and Veronica looked over at Logan and smiled.

“Hungry?” he grinned.

“A little,” she held her finger and thumb a hair’s breadth apart.

“Anyone else want anything from the café car?” Logan asked and everyone wanted something. Money was handed around and Chuck offered to go with Logan to help carry everything back.

“You having fun?” Millie asked Veronica when they were alone.

“I am, that boat raft thing this morning was a blast.”

“Never done anything like that, we don’t have much snow in Alabama,” Millie admitted.

“We don’t in Southern California either, I lived in New York for a few years for grad school, but I never really went sledding.”

“You lived in New York, like the city?” Millie asked eyes wide.

“Yeah, it is an amazing place.”

“Why’d you leave?”

“Logan,” Veronica said with a shrug and a smile.

“New York is amazing, but my life is in California, Logan and my dad are there, well when Logan is anywhere…”

“Did you grow up with military living?”

“No, but my dad was a sheriff, so I was used to duty above all else. I get it and I’m so proud of him, it’s worth it even when it’s hard.”

“That is so sweet,” Millie said a little higher pitched than a dog whistle, but Veronica smiled nonetheless at her enthusiasm.

“You guys liking the trip so far?” Veronica returned the inquiry.

“Oh yes, we took a ski lesson yesterday afternoon, it was insane how bad we were, but it was amazing. What did you two do when you got back to the lodge, we never saw you out on the slopes.”

“We had sex,” Veronica grinned, “and took a nap.”

Millie blushed furiously and Veronica felt bad.

“Sorry, sorry, TMI?” she cringed.

“Oh no, it’s fine, just wasn’t expecting that, but I mean why wouldn’t you. You are grown up people in a relationship,” Millie’s smiled looked forced now.

“Everything OK, Millie?”

“I know we just met, but…”

“You can talk to me,” Veronica turned on her concerned PI voice.

“Chuck and I are virgins,” she whispered, “we’re waiting for this,” she held up her engagement ring.

“Oh,” Veronica said surprised, “well, that’s…”

“Not great since he won’t set a damned date. Sorry, don’t mind my language.”

Veronica smiled, genuinely, this girl was unlike anyone she had ever met and before she could offer any kind of advice, Logan and Chuck were back with their snacks. Veronica reached across the little table in their 4-seater and patted Millie on the arm and gave her a look that assured her that her secret was safe.

Then she dug in to her breakfast and settled in for a 5 hour train ride to Venice.

***555***  
From the train station to the bridge in Venice was an easy trip, but Venice was so breathtaking that Veronica had to stop at every bridge and look in every direction. When they finally got to their bridge there was a box with clues like the day before.

“Detour,” Veronica read, “Waterways or Pathways. Waterways is a gondola and a map; we have to guide the gondolier to the spot on the map. Pathways we use the walking map and find it on foot.”

Veronica looked to him for his opinion on the subject.

“You know what they say…when in Venice?” he turned her towards the gondolas.

“That’s Rome, but yes I agree, let’s get in a gondola.”

The map of the waterways was a little trickier than a street map and navigating the gondola trickier than walking. Logan thought he had a short cut at one point, but they ended up in a tributary too narrow to turn around and the gondolier had to back out and regroup.

Despite stressing over the directions though, Logan enjoyed Veronica cuddled against his side and the gorgeous views all around them. It was less cold in Venice, but still chilly and damp, so the warmth of Veronica at his side was a blessing in more than one way.

Eventually they found Plaza da Mosta and followed race flags to a door. The business behind the door was closed until 5:00 pm, they took a number from the board, it was #3 so two teams had beaten them there. 

“We have 2 and half hours,” Logan said as he stretched.

“Lunch?” Veronica grinned.

“I am sure we can find something,” he took her hand and kissed it before lacing their fingers together and heading back to the main Plaza.

They found a nice little bistro with pizza and salad and wine and had a casual leisurely lunch.

“What were you and Millie talking about on the train?” Logan asked as he pushed his last slice of pizza on to her plate.

“Girl stuff.”

“Where is Veronica and what have you done with her?” Logan teased.

“I can be girlie,” she challenged.

“You can and I love the idea of you making friends on this trip.”

“It is kind of great to just be no one, to not be Veronica Mars with all that comes with that back home, good and bad,” she clarified.

“I definitely understand that. Has anyone recognized you yet?”

“If they have, they haven’t said anything,” he sipped his wine.

“Look at us, just an average couple on a spectacular adventure,” Veronica raised her glass and he clinked his with it.

When they got back to the door just before 5pm there was a clue box next to the sign where the numbers were posted earlier.

“Roadblock,” Veronica read.

“What’s that mean?” Logan was confused.

“Only one of us can do this and we have to decide based solely on a vague clue, which is – who has an eye for details?” 

“What do you think?” Logan asked strategically.

“Well, it is indoors, it can’t be some huge feat of strength or like a bungee jump or something….so I think I should do it. I do have an eye for details,” she offered.

“That you do,” he agreed.

“I’m going to do it,” Veronica told the staffer and handed over her number 3.

Only 4 people at a time were allowed in, so their number was a lucky one. Each person was handed an intricately painted Venetian masquerade mask and inside were dozens of people in full party regalia with masks. Veronica had to find the person wearing her exact mask and present her mask in return for a clue. If she approached the wrong person she had to go out to the back of the line and try again.

It seemed simple enough until Veronica realized the people were moving around the room quickly and the masks were all relatively similar. There were 3 basic shapes, but once you isolated your shape the painting on the masks only had subtle differences. She decided she was smarter to take a little extra time and get it right the first time.

She noted the color of cloaks on various people in her mask shape and slowly and methodically made her way around the room. Millie, Reichen and Tian were in the room with her and Millie and Reichen acted fast and were both wrong leaving Veronica alone with Tian. She didn’t wish Tian any ill will for flirting with Logan last night, but she still wanted to beat her and just as she thought that she saw her mask. She approached the person handed her mask over and from within the crimson cloak he wore, he produced a clue.

“Yes, thank you!” Veronica smiled and darted out the door.

“You get it?” Logan asked having watched Reichen and Millie come out empty-handed.

“Who you talkin’ to? Of course, I got it,” she held up the clue and they moved away from the crowd to read it.

It was raining steady now and Logan held their map from earlier over Veronica’s head.

“Pitstop,” she announced with a smile and wiped the rain out of her eyes, “Citta di Padova in the lagoon is all it says.”

“Lagoon sounds like water,” Logan pointed out.

“This whole city is water,” she laughed as the rain poured down.

Logan jerked his head toward the square they had lunch in and found a spot to duck out of the rain and ask directions. The lagoon was a bit of trip, so they ordered a taxi and Logan bought Veronica a hot tea while they waited, wrapping her up in his arms to keep her warm.

The taxi dropped them at a marina area known as the lagoon and sure enough out in the water was a yacht called “Citta di Padova”. Logan paid the taxi as Veronica scouted the race flags leading down to dinghies ready to take them across to the yacht.

Soon they were climbing aboard the ship to find Mark and the Captain under a yawning nice and dry.

“Welcome to Venice,” the Captain smiled, and Logan nodded his respect.

“Thank you,” Veronica said as she pushed her wet hair off her forehead.

“I am happy to tell you, you are the first team to arrive,” Mark said with a big smile.

“Great,” Veronica bounced a little as her competitive side came out.

“In addition to your maximum points for first place, you also get a special treat, you have a private cabin for the evening. Other teams will be bunking up,” Mark pointed out as he handed over a key.

“That is a great perk,” Logan agreed as he pulled his wet clothes away from his chest, he really wanted out of his clothes soon.

“It is the master cabin at the prow of the ship, I imagine you know your way around a boat,” Mark said to Logan with a wink.

“A bit, yes,” Logan nodded as Tian and Jaree boarded the yacht behind them.

“Our second team has arrived,” Mark announced, and the women were thrilled with a 2nd place finish.

“We’ll get out of your hair,” Veronica said as she tugged Logan towards the stairs.

“Dinner at 7:30 on the main deck,” Mark pointed behind him where a huge tent was set up against the weather and gas heaters glowed their warmth.

“I never miss a meal,” Veronica replied as she and Logan moved out of the way as another team came aboard.

“Private cabin? Your powers of observation scored big time, Mars,” Logan whispered in her ear as they moved through the yacht. 

“This boat is huge. I mean, not aircraft carrier huge, but pleasure craft…huge!”

“Which makes me think…” Logan started as they arrived at their cabin #1 and opened the door, “the cabin is going to be amazing,” he laughed as they walked in to a level of opulence even he was not super familiar with.

They had a huge bed and a full bath with a shower big enough for both of them.

“Forget the private room, the private shower is worth everything,” Veronica said as she began stripping off wet layers until she was standing naked, pink from the cold and shivering.

“Hot water now,” Logan said as he ran his hands along her cold arms and got the shower going right away.

“You too,” Veronica chattered but did not wait for him to join her getting under the warm spray with a sigh of relief.

“So good,” she said as she washed the cold and exhaustion away.

Logan was naked and behind her in no time, wrapping himself around her to warm her and get himself under the water too.

“Mine, you big guy you,” Veronica laughed as she tried to elbow him out of her way.

She turned to face him, and he leaned down to kiss her, sweetly at first but with increased fervor.

“Today was great,” she said between clashes of their teeth and tongues.

“Not over yet,” he spoke directly against the now warm skin of her neck.

“We have to be quiet, this room is private, but I bet sound travels on this boat,” she reprimanded.

“I can be quiet,” he said in an accusatory manner.

“Are you saying I …. ohhhhhh,” she moaned loudly when his hand found the perfect spot.

“No fair,” she nipped at his shoulder but moved her body against his hand to get a little more leverage.

“Quiet,” he whispered against her skin as he tugged her legs up and around his waist and pressed her back against the shower wall.

“Logan, now,” she whispered back and looked him in the eye.

“Yes, ma’am,” he smiled his happiest smile and kissed her to swallow her cries.

He finished with a quiet groan, resting his head on the wall beside hers and attempting to catch his breath. The effort exerted to be quiet and the lack of oxygen from all the kissing made everything spark brighter when they finished and Veronica lowered her legs carefully to the ground, rinsed them off and turned off the shower. 

The room may have been opulent, but the towels were tiny, and they dried off quickly before sliding under the covers.

“I liked you too,” Veronica mumbled sleepily as Logan ran his hands through her wet hair.

“Huh?” he asked confused.

“Twenty years ago, when you pushed me off the boat. I liked you too and I went home that night and talked about you all night to my mom and dad, about how funny you were and how cool you were and how smart you were…”

He laughed, “so your dad really has had me in his scope for 20 years.”

“You’ve always been it for me Logan, always will,” she said as her eyes drifted shut for a nap.

TBC…


	4. More Than a Boyfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Veronica finish their time in Italy and set off for a new destination and more romantic adventures in Europe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for the lovely comments and notes. I am having fun working on this story, it is a great distraction. So is all the great fic being written right now, thank you to everyone writing for AU week and keeping up with WIPS. It has been so great to have new fic to read during this stressful time. Hope everyone is well.

Logan and Veronica were late for dinner, noticeably late and their entrance raised a couple eyebrows and a giggle from Millie.

“Hey everyone,” Veronica smiled, the space on the yacht for dinner was much smaller than the night before at the ski lodge, so everyone was close to together and the 2 empty seats were obvious.

There was still plenty of food and another night of Italian delicacies was awesome for Veronica. Logan got them some bottled water and some wine while Veronica made one big plate of food. The empty seats were at the same table as Millie and Chuck, but they were across the way and Veronica was sitting next to a pair of women she had not met yet, Monica and Cherie, they were a little older, 40’s maybe and they looked like they had money, with big rings on every finger including huge wedding and engagement rings.

Logan’s seat was next to Steve and Josh, the father and son duo. Since they had met, even if Josh had a problem with the idea of Veronica as a PI, Veronica smiled and waved at them and then introduced herself to the ladies to her right.

“I’m Veronica, this is my guy…Logan,” she stumbled a bit as she found herself desperately wanting Logan to be more than her boyfriend suddenly.

Logan gave her a little smile and reached over her to shake hands with Monica and Cherie.

“I’m Veronica’s guy,” he teased, and she rolled her eyes.

“I’m Monica, this is Cherie, we’re best friends from Atlanta,” Monica said.

“Nice to meet you, you having fun?” Logan asked as he dug out the few vegetables Veronica had put on their plate.

“We’re having a blast,” Cherie enthused.

“That’s great,” Veronica pushed some green things towards Logan.

The table was a little tight and she could feel Logan’s warmth as he leaned into her to eat off their plate and she rested one hand on his thigh and relaxed against him. It was surprising to her how quickly she fell into vacation mode. It might be the race aspect of the trip or the challenges to focus on that has made the down time extra special and relaxing.

“Who did you guys get bunked up with, I was hoping we could share,” Millie asked as Chuck came back with some dessert.

“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Tian interjected, “the lovebirds here got a private room for finishing first.”

Tian’s words were snarky, but her face was full of mirth.

“Really?” Millie teased.

“It was a lucky surprise,” Logan said bashfully.

“It explains why you almost missed dinner,” Monica added.

Veronica shoved a big mouthful of food in her mouth and just nodded.

Dinner and dessert was a long process, the rain from earlier had ended and with the gas heaters on the deck area was warm, and the wine kept flowing. Logan got pulled into a poker game for bragging rights and a few random Italian coins.

“You could put your private room in to the pot,” Chip suggested as he dealt.

“Have you seen my girlfriend?” Logan sipped his wine and grinned.

“Not my type really, but not bad for a girl,” Chip chuckled.

“So, I hear you fly planes,” a new guy Logan just met named Dave said.

“Yeah, for the Navy,” Logan tossed in a few sugar packets to the pot.

“What’s your rank, son?” Dave asked.

“I am on a promotion track right now,” Logan confessed, he hadn’t even really told Veronica. She knew of course what his next rank would be, but he had filed a few things to start working towards it, “Lieutenant Commander.”

“Thank you for your service,” Dave’s wife Heather said.

“My honor,” Logan smiled softly and raised the pot.

“I’m an air traffic controller,” Dave mentioned.

“Hard job,” Logan blew out a breath.

“It has its moments,” Dave agreed with a nod as he raised Logan’s bet.

Logan lost the hand and when he looked over Veronica was chatting with a few people, but she instantly caught his eye and smiled.

“I’m out guys, thanks for the game,” he stood and waved goodnight as Veronica did the same and met him in the middle of the room, lacing her fingers through his.

“Bedtime?” she asked with a squeeze of his hand.

“Oh yeah,” he squeezed back.

By the time they make it down the narrow corridor to their cabin Logan had worked his hand under the back of her jeans and was teasing along the curve of her ass.

“Key, you have the key,” Veronica said a little breathless already.

“I am really impressed,” Logan whispered in her ear causing her to shiver as he reached past her to unlock the room, “by how open you are on this trip.”

They got in the room and Veronica turned around and pushed him back against the door, but instead of ravaging him as she planned, she just stood and looked at him.

“I’m sorry, I am seriously a shitty girlfriend,” she rocked back on her heels and slipped her hands into her pockets.

“No, you’re not,” Logan says gently afraid of spooking her.

“I love you and I know you know I love you, but I don’t let other people in. I make jokes to my dad about what a pain it is when you’re back and I can’t eat junk food and I tell Wallace that we are super boring and make light of our relationship all the time.”

“They know you, Veronica, they know how you feel.”

“These people don’t know me, and I introduced you as my guy, how stupid was that,” she groaned and turned away from him to head for the bathroom.

“Hey, come back,” he reached out and was able to snag her hand, “why did you call me your guy?”

Veronica looked at her feet at the nails of the hand he wasn’t holding anywhere but him.

“Hey,” he said again quieter still, “it’s just us.”

“Boyfriend sounds so foolish, for what you are to me, what you mean to me. You are a lot more than that…I might want you to be more than that.”

“Why Veronica Mars, are you asking me to marry you?’ he tugged her close and wrapped his arms around her.

“Not if you are going to tease me about it,” she pinched his side and he yelped dramatically.

“You are more than my girlfriend, you are more than my best friend, even if you are my wife you will be more than that to me. You are Veronica Mars and you are my perfect match,” he said against the crown of her head and she held him tighter.

“Can we have sex now?” she said as if the honest emotional chat had exhausted her.

“Yes,” he lifted her easily and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Yes?” she kissed his temple.

“Yes,” he tossed her on the bed, and she bounced with a laugh.

He took her feet in his hands and slipped her sneakers and socks off as she helped by undoing her jeans so he could tug them from the hem flinging them over his shoulder. His own jeans followed and his Henley and then he fell on to her, using his hands to stop him from crushing her completely and he placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

“You’re my perfect match too,” she reached up and stroked his face, looked him right in the eye.

***555***

Once again, they were up early, which was nothing for Logan, so he went to the upper deck and got some coffee and pastries from the small buffet and brought them back to a still slumbering Veronica.

“Rise and shine, Sugarpuss, the sun is out,” he whispered in her ear as he reached past her to raise the small shade on their porthole window.

“Go ‘way,” she batted at him.

“I brought coffee…” he singsonged and one eye popped open, the blue still breathtaking to him after all these years.

“Coffee?”

“And some sort of almond thing with way more calories than I can allow for myself, but you might enjoy…” he waived the pastry near her nose and saw her body unfurl and stretch like a cat.

“I’m up,” she sat up and bypassed all the breakfast stuff to pull him close for a quick kiss.

“Sleep well?” he asked leaving his forehead against hers.

“Yes,” she murmured and kissed his cheek, “I sleep a lot better with you in the bed,” she admitted with a shrug.

This trip was designed to bring them closer and she was trying to tell him all the things she thought, all the things she normally kept inside because they felt silly or made her vulnerable.

“Me too,” he kissed her lips again.

“You sleep better with you in the bed? That makes sense,” she grinned and wrinkled her nose.

“You know what I mean,” he kissed her one more time and stood up, “eat up while I finish getting ready and then you will have to get dressed, we only have half an hour.

With their gear packed and their clothes on, Logan and Veronica emerged from the lower deck to find crew, but no sign of their leader Mark.

“Your clue is on the land,” a young Italian man pointed, and they could see a few flags near the dock, “we take you,” he explained and helped to get their gear in the small dinghy.

The crossing was much nicer than the night before in the dark and rain, the soft morning light gave them gorgeous views in every direction and Veronica snuck out her small point & shoot camera and took a few shots and got their dinghy operator to take one of the both of them.

“Dad will love that,” Veronica looked at the picture on the small display screen.

Logan hopped out of the small boat first and reached down to give Veronica a hand as the crew grabbed their bags.

“Good morning,” Mark greeted, “happy to see the sun?”

“It’s so beautiful,” Veronica couldn’t stop looking at the skyline of pastel skies and soft stone buildings, “it looks like a painting.”

“Well, enjoy it, you are off to a new destination,” Mark handed over a clue as the dinghy went back to get Tian and Jaree which were only 10 minutes behind them.

Logan opened the envelope.

“Take a train to Vienna, Austria,” he read.

“Cool!” Veronica smiled, she had loved being in Italy, but other than London she had never seen Europe and she was excited for another country.

“We know where the train station is,” Logan noted having read the rest of the clue and saving that info for later.

“Let’s go,” Veronica bounced.

“See you in Austria!” Mark waved as Logan could see the dinghy approaching with Tian and Jaree.

Logan talked to the ticket agent at the train station, there were several ways to get to Austria, but he thought he had the best route via Verona and Innsbruck to Vienna.

“Verona huh?” Veronica bumped his shoulder as she looked at the tickets.

“In fair Verona where we lay our scene,” he picked up what she was laying down.

“We are not Romeo and Juliet though,” she clarified.

“We could’ve been, families on different sides of the town, epic bloodshed and ruined lives,” he pointed out.

“We beat the odds, buddy, no more lives ruined, no more bloodshed,” she squeezed his arm.

“But we’re still epic right?” he grinned.

“The epicist,” she promised.

Soon there were other teams gathered, but still their train took off with only about half of the group, so they would hopefully have a head start.

It was a full day of travel, but due to the need to change trains there was not a lot of relaxing time, it was a lot of off and on trains. When they finally got to Vienna it was dark and raining again.

“Where are we heading?” Veronica finally asked, her innate curiosity having faded a bit on this trip.

“Apparently, the sewer,” Logan wrinkled his nose.

“Huh?” she said a little foggy from the full day of travel.

They got to a cab stand and Logan showed the clue to a taxi driver and he nodded, apparently the sewer in Vienna was a thing. It was nearly 10:00 pm and Veronica curled into his side in the cab and was nearly asleep when the cab stopped.

“Here?” Logan asked and the driver agreed and pointed to a small cobblestone square.

Logan paid the driver and grabbed both their bags as Veronica moved towards the clue box.

“Meet back here at 8:00 am for a tour like you’ve never experienced before,” Veronica read with a yawn. 

Other cabs arrived and other teams piled out. Soon there was a crowd of six teams all with nowhere to go for the evening.

They had a decent amount of money for this leg of the race. 

“Should we pair up and share a hotel room, get some sleep?” Chip asked.

There were 2 pairs of guys: Chip & Reichen and Steve & Josh, so they paired off and 2 pairs of girls: Tian & Jaree and Monica & Cherie so they paired off which left Logan and Veronica with Russel & Cindy who were friends but apparently not a couple.

The group moved towards what looked like a small boutique hotel not far from the clue box. Logan, his military personality coming out took the lead and spoke to the front desk clerk and secured 3 rooms. Each pair of teams paid for their own and got their keys.

“He’s quite something,” Cindy said as they followed the guys to their room.

“Military Logan is a trip. I remember when he was a whiny 12-year-old,” Veronica grinned.

“Wow, you guys have been together that long?”

“Not continuously, but we were friends, then not friends, then a couple then not a couple then apart for a long time and now we are this,” Veronica tried to make it sound perfectly normal their on-again off-again history.

“I wish Russel and I could move past the just friends thing,” Cindy admitted, and Veronica smiled, she thought that might be the case.

“Maybe not tonight though, OK?” Veronica winked.

“Right, not tonight,” Cindy laughed.

The room was fine, with 2 double beds and a decent bathroom.

“I hope you two don’t mind sharing a bed,” Logan said, “because my lady told me she sleeps better when I’m in the bed.”

“Your lady?” Veronica narrowed her eyes.

“Are you not a lady?” Logan asked as he pulled out a water bottle and handed it over.

“We’ll be fine,” Russel laughed, and Veronica wondered if he felt the same way Cindy did, maybe there should be some match making done this trip.

They all took turns cleaning up and putting on comfy clothes and Logan set his watch for 6:00 am so they had time to get back to the clue box and the 4 people slumbered peacefully for over 6 hours.

***555***  
At 8:00 am they were grouped together by the number on their clue card into groups of 3 teams and headed down a wet slick windy staircase into the historic sewers of Vienna. They were given headlamps to guide their way and there were flags and signs in the tunnels to keep them on track.

“Well, this is gross,” Veronica spoke for the whole group as they trudged through smelly water. Logan was good at spotting the markers and after about 20 minutes they were climbing back up at Heumarkt where a ticket board stood.

Logan pulled off number 1, Tian took #2 and Steve got #3 and they followed a flagged path to a small park.

“Horses!” Veronica noticed the majestic animals first.

Along the side of the park were six horse-drawn carriages. Logan stowed their bags while Veronica pet the horse and cooed to them, and then he climbed aboard the first carriage reaching back for Veronica. Their clue said their next destination was Schonbrunn Palace and they had nothing to do but sit back and relax and watch Vienna pass by.

“This is unbelievable,” Veronica said as she snuggled into Logan’s side. The rain had stopped but it was still chilly, the sun was emerging though, and Veronica hoped for a nicer day ahead.

When they got to Schonbrunn the grounds were just majestic and Logan and Veronica strolled around the paths looking for their next clue. Finally, near the back of the palace on a big patio they found the clue box and a whole bunch of large instruments and music stands.

“I hope we don’t have to play anything; I gave up after the recorder in 3rd grade,” Veronica laughed.

“I took all those piano lessons, I can still read music,” Logan offered.

“My Renaissance man,” she patted him on the shoulder.

Logan read the clue, “Detour: Mozart or Beethoven. Mozart is carrying one of those big string basses 6 miles to the house where Mozart wrote Marriage of Figaro. Beethoven is carrying that music book 11 miles to the house where Beethoven wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament.”

“OK, well I bet the Mozart place is easier to find and obviously shorter,” Veronica reasoned as Logan moved behind her, “can you carry that thing?” she asked as she turned around and saw he already had it up on his shoulder.

“Weighs less than my sea bag,” he assured her.

“OK, let’s do it then,” she smiled, and they headed back to the main road.

Sure enough after just a few minutes of inquiry they had a handwritten map to the Figaro house. It took a while with their string bass in toe, but the walk was lovely, and the day got nicer. When they arrived, a man dressed as Mozart exchanged the bass for their next clue.

“Can we look around?” Veronica asked, she knew they were in a race, but they were in Vienna in the place where one of the most enduring pieces of opera was written.

“Please,” the man dressed as Mozart seemed thrilled they wanted to stay.

They moved through the house, in awe of the furniture and the art.

“I’ve never been to Vienna,” Logan said, and it was a bit of an admission.

Veronica assumed between his opulent childhood and his international man of mystery job that he had been everywhere.

Veronica just smiled and took his hand. When they had poked in and out of the whole house they headed out on to the sidewalk, they hadn’t seen another team so she wondered if everyone else took the less heavy choice at the detour or if someone had gotten lost in Vienna.

Their next clue sent them to Donauturm which was an 1150 ft spire over the Danube river. When they got there, Veronica ripped open the clue.

“Roadblock: who doesn’t mind hanging from their ankles?” Veronica read with a snort.

“I’ll do it,” Logan said quickly.

“You sure?” she replied feebly.

“You did the last one and I am pretty sure this is a jump, I got this,” he assured her as they looked up to the high tower.

Veronica knew that even before he flew jets and trained for the military Logan was a risk taker. He surfed big waves, he bungee jumped and went skydiving, he could do this with no problem.

“OK,” she agreed with a smile, she wanted to test herself on this trip, but he could do this one.

The crew took Logan, who handed over his pack to Veronica and kissed her good and long, before waving good-bye with a huge grin on his face.

“Have fun!” she called as he walked backwards away from her before turning to pay attention to what the crew member was telling him.

While Veronica was waiting another team arrived, Chip & Reichen, and the two debated on who was taking the plunge. By the time Logan was harnessed up a few more teams were there and the people not doing the roadblock were gathered at a spot where they could see the jump platform. When they noticed some movement, Veronica looked up squinting to see Logan.

“He’s ready,” the crew person with an earpiece informed Veronica.

Next thing she knew, the man she loved was hurtling toward the Danube river, his shouts echoing around her. She smiled so wide it almost hurt as he bounced and finally came to a stop, the crew pulling him back.

“Can I?” Veronica pointed.

“Yeah, go ahead,” the crew person said.

Veronica dropped their bags and ran towards him as he walked towards her, it reminded her of the times she met him when he came home from a deployment on the carrier, he scooped her up and kissed her just like those reunions as well.

“That was so fucking fun,” he laughed in her ear and carried her back to their bags.

Logan shouldered both bags while Veronica remained wrapped around him.

“You got all that?” Steve asked indicating the bags and the girlfriend.

“I’m good, really good,” Logan smiled as he hugged Veronica tighter.

When they got back to the main road there was a line of cars waiting and Veronica read the rest of the clue.

“Drive yourself to Gmunden, 185 miles away.”

“You want to drive or navigate?” Logan offered as he packed their bags in the trunk.

“I’ll navigate, but we are going to need a map and a bathroom before we hit the road.”

“You got it,” he agreed and hopped behind the wheel as Veronica got comfortable in the passenger seat.

They found a gas station with snacks and a bathroom not far from the Donauturm. Logan got a map and noticed quickly that there was a also a place called Gmundsen which was tricky, but clarified that Gmunden was also on the map and had charted a course and confirmed it with the guy behind the cash register as Veronica picked out some snacks and water.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Let’s do it! Gmunden or bust!” she cheered.

Logan just smiled and shook his head as they headed off to find the highway.

A few hours later they made it to the town of Gmunden and another train station. They traded in their car for a train ticket to Seeschloss Orth. The train ride was the most beautiful yet through the lakes region of Austria and the day continued to be bright and beautiful.

When they exited the train their destination was clear, a 400-year-old castle on a lake was the stop for the night. They got to the mat ahead of any other teams and Mark told them their reward for this first place finish was waiting for them in their room.

Intrigued, Veronica thanked Mark and the crew and dragged Logan towards their room in a castle.

“I have never spent the night in a castle. Not even at Disneyland,” she practically skipped.

Logan kept pace and soon they were navigating the huge castle. The air was dry and cool on the inside and Veronica felt like she could feel the 400 years of history all around her.

They found their room, room #1 again, and inside was a huge 4 poster bed with the fluffiest pillows and duvet ever.

“Think that’s our reward? Everyone else gets sleeping bags on the stone floor?” Veronica asked.

“No, I think that is our reward,” Logan pointed to the laptop on a small desk with a notecard on it.

“Oh my gosh!” Veronica ripped open the envelope.

“As winners of this leg of the race you have a laptop and wi-fi for the evening. Email your friends and family, check in on the rest of the world or your favorite sports teams, whatever you like. Enjoy!” Veronica read.

“We can email that picture to your dad,” Logan brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead.

“Let’s write him a big email with all our adventures,” she tugged him down to the desk chair and sat in his lap.

She knew that Logan loved Keith, but that he held back sometimes, not wanting to get too close or seem to eager. It was obvious that Logan feared losing Keith the way he lost his own parents, it didn’t require a psych degree that he had abandonment issues, some of which she had contributed to directly.

Veronica could also admit that there were times she was stingy with her father. He was getting older and sometimes seemed less well than he claimed, and she had her own set of worries and she kind of wanted all of his free time at the expense of his friends and even Logan.

So, Veronica tried to include Logan whenever she could. Logan knew when she made the effort and not wanting to spook her accepted it with a smile and a kiss. She curled into his lap as he typed, and she dictated. She attached her small camera to the laptop and attached the photo of them in the dinghy in Venice just that morning and sent it off.

“Anything else you want to use this for?” Logan said as he quickly checked his own email.

“Nope, now I want to use that big bed,” she raised her eyebrows.

“How about the bath and or shower first? We’ve been on a lot of trains,” he wrinkled his nose.

“Smart man,” she pecked a kiss to his lips and hopped up to investigate the bathroom.

Logan found her in there, she was staring slack jawed at a huge claw foot tub.

“That’ll do,” he said casually, and she barked out a laugh.

TBC…

TBC…


	5. I've Got a Fast Car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Veronica leave Austria for a ride on the fast track, with a stop in one of my favorite cities in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope everyone is doing well, staying healthy and safe. I am sorry for the slightly longer-than-a-week delay between chapters as I decided to relocate for a while out of the city and down to the suburbs with my parents during the worst of the crisis in Boston. I am settled down here now and should be able to keep writing. This chapter contains a location near and dear to my heart, it was both wonderful and sad to write about it. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

The bathtub was even more impressive than it looked and as Veronica relaxed back against Logan’s chest, she audibly sighed.

“Feeling good?” he asked quietly.

The air in the bathroom was warm and thick from the hot water and scented with something Logan thought might be bergamot in the bubbles Veronica poured liberally under the faucet as it filled. It was intoxicating. Having Veronica in his arms was equally so.

“Very very good,” she ran her pruning fingertips along the muscles of his thigh and felt him quiver under her gentle touch. That was also intoxicating.

“I feel drunk,” he giggled in her ear.

“Is this what relaxation is?” she giggled back.

“I think it is more contentment,” his voice was more serious now and she nodded her agreement.

Eventually Veronica reached for a washcloth and lathered it up, washed her limbs and let Logan wash her back, she turned to face him and returned the consideration. She stood up easily and climbed out of the tub, moving to the stall shower and rinsing off and washing her face. Logan did the same and after they patted themselves dry Veronica took his hand and led him to the big poufy bed.

She folded back the covers and crawled in; Logan did not need an invitation. He met her in the middle of the bed and kissed her, cupping his big hand around her neck, his fingers threading into her damp hair, his tongue moving slowly along hers.

Veronica nudged her knee between his and rolled him on top of her fully. The hand not on her neck moved to her breast, cupping it gently as the callused pad of his thumb moved over the peak.

“Mmmm,” she purred into his mouth and he smiled into the next kiss.

“Love you, love this,” he whispered between each kiss.

She nodded her agreement, bumping their noses and causing him to laugh. She used her hands to position his hips where she really wanted him.

“Now?” he grinned.

“That bath was more than enough foreplay,” she promised, and he didn’t need to be told twice.

The languid mood of the afternoon did not change though, and he moved slowly and surely, never stopping the constant kissing. The pace was nearly torture for him, but he could feel Veronica open under him, take him deeper and soon he knew he was in the perfect spot.

“Unngghhh,” an incomprehensible gurgle came out of the back of her throat as her back arched and took him deeper still as her body clenched around him deliciously.

“Veronicaaaaa,” he groaned as he tried to hold on.

“Come for me,” she whispered hotly against his ear and he was done, her name and God’s mixed together.

“Mmmm, talk about contentment,” she said and followed it with a long yawn.

“I think we earned a nap today,” Logan curled around her securely and that was the last thing he remembered until the phone rang.

“H’lo,” Logan said groggily.

“Logan, sorry to wake you, you two were MIA for dinner and I thought I might send up some sandwiches,” Mark said perkily as Logan realized the room was now dark.

“Oh man, we took a nap,” Logan explained unnecessarily, “but yes, sandwiches would be great Mark, thank you.”

“They’ll be up to you in less than 20 minutes,” he promised and hung up.

“Sandwiches?” Veronica asked, her eyes still closed.

“We slept through dinner,” Logan kissed her shoulder and slipped out of the bed and padded to the bathroom.

When he returned, Veronica was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a tee shirt and sitting at the computer. Logan found a pair of track pants in his bag and pulled them on.

“Any word from home?” he leaned over and kissed her shoulder.

“Dad says hi! He loved the picture and Pony is fine, he sent us a picture of her all curled up in her bed there,” Veronica opened the thumbnail and Logan cooed at the image of their giant dog.

Together they read Wallace’s email, Shae was doing fine, they found out the baby is a boy! Oh a little Wallace, how exciting.

“Awww, Wallace will be owned by that baby,” Logan teased.

“Like you aren’t owned by our dog,” Veronica teased back.

A knock at a door drowned out Logan’s weak protestations and he opened the door to a young man with a large picnic basket.

“Your dinner,” he smiled and handed the basket over.

“Thank you,” Logan said stunned, expecting a couple sandwiches wrapped in plastic.

“Ooooo, what have we got?” Veronica asked while finishing up her reply to Wallace.

“Lots of things,” Logan smiled as he unpacked the picnic full of sandwiches, fruit, cheese, cookies and sparkling water.

“Yum,” she hummed and logged out of the computer, crawling back in the big bed.

“Dinner in bed? How bohemian,” he teased.

“Bring me my food, kind sir,” she made grabby hands.

“Your wish,” he pointed at her, “my command,” he turned the finger back to himself before bringing the whole basket over and doling out the food.

They traded halves of the different sandwiches and Logan let her eat all the cookies and they laughed and talked about their trip.

“We rode in a gondola, in Venice! Not the Venetian in Vegas, but actually in Venice,” Veronica bounced in the bed and nearly upset Logan’s glass of water.

“I was there,” he grinned.

“I know this is probably no big deal to you with your Hollywood childhood and your International Man of Mystery job, but I have not travelled very much,” she admitted shyly.

“I know that and trust me; I have never enjoyed traveling as much as I have these past few days. When I was a kid, I was way too young for most of the places my parents dragged me and work is work, really, I am not drinking wine at Italian cafes,” he assured her.

She just nodded as she munched her dinner.

“And seeing you see things is really awesome. You think you are a master of your emotions, but when you are happy, really happy, you can’t contain that, you can’t hide it,” he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear.

She blushed softly and leaned across to kiss him quickly.

***555***  
Their impromptu nap lead to a shorter night’s sleep than they would have wanted, but very early Logan and Veronica were back at the front door of the fort waiting for their clue.

“Hope you enjoyed, Austria,” was all Mark said as he handed over the envelope.

“Make your way to…. Paris,” Logan read and saw Veronica’s eyes light up.

“Seriously?” she tugged his arm so she could read the clue, “Paris!”

“Have fun, you two,” Mark smiled as Veronica dragged Logan over to the continental breakfast as he read the rest of the clue and she fixed their coffee.

“There are flights from Salzburg and Munich,” he said, “Munich is further away but I can guarantee they will have a more direct flight.”

“I trust your logistics, babe,” she said as she bit into a big piece of apple strudel.

Logan drove them back in to Gmunden and found a hotel to stop and ask for assistance. They were able to use the hotel business center to check flights online and Logan was right, getting to Munich was their best bet. He found the fastest train route to Munich, they thanked the kind hotel staff and headed out to the train station.

When they arrived in Munich a couple other teams were there as well, must have been on their train, and soon Logan & Veronica, Chuck & Millie, Reichen & Chip and Tian & Jaree were jetting to Paris.

On her way back from the airplane restroom, Jaree stopped at Logan and Veronica’s seats. Veronica was reading a book and Logan was jotting a few things down in a notebook they had decided to keep for the trip.

“Sorry to bother you, but I have to ask, are you Logan Echolls?” she asked discreetly.

Veronica’s eyes went cold fast and she sat up straighter as if to protect Logan in the interior window seat.

“I figured everyone knew that,” Logan shrugged, “although I haven’t graced a tabloid in 5 whole years,” he held up his hand and wiggled all 5 digits.

“I had a picture of you in my room in high school,” Jaree admitted, “other people thought it might be you, but well, you’ve grown up,” she shrugged, “everyone is super cool about it being you, they think you’ve done an amazing thing…in the Navy I mean.”

She was getting a little fangirlie and Veronica had to stifle a laugh.

“Well, that’s nice,” Logan said, at a loss for words.

“Sorry to bother you,” she said again and went back to her seat.

Veronica was shaking and Logan realized she was trying not to laugh.

“Stop it,” he pinched her, and a laugh squeaked out.

“I also had a picture of you in my room in high school,” she whispered hotly against his ear and Logan was starting to think his ears were erogenous zones when Veronica was the one talking.

“The difference is you took the ones in your room, you didn’t cut them out of a magazine,” he clarified and went back to his notes.

“You were so much then,” she said enigmatically.

“Huh?” he furrowed his brow.

“I was almost always overwhelmed by you in varying degrees of good and bad,” she admitted.

“I was a lot,” he agreed.

When they landed a crew person handed them their next clue, a series of postcards to famous sites in Paris. That was it.

“I assume we go to these places,” Veronica flipped through the 3 cards indicating the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.

“I haven’t been to Paris in a long time, but I think we can get to each of these from the other. Let’s take a cab to the Louvre and start there?” Logan suggested.

“Sure,” Veronica nodded.

It was cool but sunny and Veronica stripped down to just her long sleeved tee layer and grabbed her sunglasses and camera from her pack.

The ride into the city from the airport wasn’t super special at first, but soon they were on narrower roads with shops and cafes all around. It was past lunchtime and Veronica looked longingly at the café windows.

“We’ll grab a crepe or something,” Logan smiled at her.

“Paris,” she said again with a huge smile.

The cab took them to the Rue di Rivoli side of the Tuileries and dropped them off, Logan could figure out how to get to the Louvre grounds and its famous Pyramid from there. It was too early in the season for the gardens to be in bloom, but the space was still magnificent.

The Louvre was packed with people and getting around the courtyard was difficult, but soon Logan found a Global Challenge staffer and got the 1st part of their clue.

They turned back towards the Tuileries and Veronica stopped dead in her tracks and covered her mouth in shock.

“What?” Logan turned to see her eyes wide and she pointed.

Past the gardens and off to the left was the Eiffel Tower against a gorgeous blue sky. She couldn’t help it; Veronica felt her eyes fill with tears.

“It is so beautiful,” she said reverently.

Logan didn’t reply just moved to her and wrapped an arm around her pulling her close, his marshmallow of a tough-as-nails girlfriend.

They made it to the Arc de Triomphe and got clue #2 and then approached the grounds of the Eiffel for their final clue. Logan spied a crepe cart and got them each a delicious quick bite.

“I don’t know how long we are here, but it is not long enough, we are coming back,” Veronica announced as she finished her crepe.

“I will go anywhere you want to go,” Logan promised and kissed the corner of her mouth where a tiny bit of powdered sugar remained.

They got the third clue and Veronica wanted to take some pictures of the Eiffel Tower. They walked all along its base and she took cool pictures from funky angles. When they reached a big stretch of grass Logan smiled.

“Do you know where we are?” he said casually.

“Well, that is the Eiffel Tower,” she hooked her thumb back.

“It is, which means this is the Field of Mars,” he held his arms out to either side dramatically.

“Champs de Mars,” she said with glee, “Take my picture.”

Veronica liked being behind the camera more than in front of it, but she indulged Logan and posed with the Eiffel Tower in the field that carried her name. She did the ubiquitous pose where she held out her hand so it looked like the Eiffel Tower was perched on it. She threw both arms out and jumped like Mary Tyler Moore. And finally, she pulled Logan close and kissed him as she angled the camera to get them both in frame.

“God of war you are,” he kissed her temple and found a spot to sit and go over their clues.

“Looks like we are already leaving Paris, good thing you already booked our return trip. Train to Le Mans and on to Circuit Bugatti,” Logan grinned.

“The race track?” Veronica dug in her bag for another snack finding an Austrian granola bar.

“Yep,” Logan stood and reached down to help her up.

They got a cab easily near the tourist attraction and asked in halfway decent French which train station was fastest to Le Mans. The cab driver dropped them at Montparnasse.

By the time they got to Circuit Bugatti they were no longer in first place, but Veronica did not care, her afternoon in Paris was reward enough for today.

“Detour,” Logan read as he opened their clue and watched Chuck working on a race car, “the person who performs this task must fit into a small space,” he laughed.

“I got this,” Veronica smirked, “I’ll do it,” she told the staffer.

Veronica then had to don a pit crew jumpsuit that Logan embarrassingly admitted looked pretty hot on her, although not much didn’t look hot on her, and then she had to change all 4 tires on a race car. If she did that successfully she got to ride shotgun with a professional driver.

“I bet you wish you picked this one,” Millie said as she and Logan watched from the pit and Chip and Reichen debated who would do the detour for their team.

“The ride will be awesome, but cars are more Veronica’s thing,” Logan shrugged.

“Really, I couldn’t change a tire if my life depended on it,” Millie admitted.

“It is a good life skill, I didn’t learn until the Navy, but Veronica had a bit of a lemon of a car in high school and she got really good at fixing it herself. She’ll crush this.”

Sure enough, once she figured out how to counter the kickback of the automated device for getting the lug nuts off she flew through tire changing, rolling 2 of the giant tires at a time from the stack and before Chuck finished Veronica was already strapping on a helmet for her victory lap.

Logan trusted the professional driver, but they were flying.

“Now I know how she felt when I went hurtling off that tower yesterday,” Logan cringed as they took a turn with a squeal.

“That part does look fun,” Millie admitted as Chuck strapped in.

The car was small, and Chuck did not enjoy the tight space, but it was nothing for Veronica, who hopped out and high-fived her driver.

“Merci,” she said, and the guy tipped his helmet to her.

Veronica skipped, literally skipped, over to Logan.

“That. Was. Awesome.”

Logan gave her a quick kiss and helped her strip off the jumpsuit. Chuck finished off right behind her and Reichen not far behind him, all 3 teams were on to the next clue.

“Pick up a car in the parking lot,” Veronica began, “please let it be one of those,” she looked back at the racetrack, “and drive 556 miles to Marseilles, Port #4.”

“Wow, that’s a trek,” Logan blew out a breath.

“It’ll take us all night,” Veronica figured, “we can take turns driving.”

“Let’s do it.”

The ride was long, but easy along mostly highways. Logan and Veronica plotted their course and shared the load, stopping for food and restrooms, but keeping good time.

When they got to Marseilles the sun was up and the gate to Port #4 was closed until 9:00 am.

“Breakfast,” Logan nudged a drowsy Veronica.

“Coffee, please,” she curled into the seat.

“I see a place not far, stay here, keep the doors locked,” he instructed although he didn’t see anyone else close by.

“Mmmm hmmm,” she promised and curled back into her sleeping ball.

Logan smiled at her fondly and jogged across the street to a small shop that appeared open. He was greeted by the warm rich smell of French roast coffee and butter and the welcome sight of restroom sign.

“Bon jour,” he smiled at the young woman behind the counter stocking the case with pastries, before pointing to the sign. She smiled and nodded.

When he returned, he used his mediocre French and got 2 coffees and a variety of pastries including the most delicious looking almond croissant he had ever seen. He counted out his Euros and left the girl a tip for not laughing at his French.

Veronica was awake when he returned to the car.

“They have a bathroom,” he said by way of greeting.

“Excellent, I can wait though, food first,” she smiled.

He handed over the bag and situated the coffee cups in the car’s cupholders.

“Seriously, France rocks,” Veronica said before biting into a cinnamon raisin brioche roll that elicited a sound Logan generally only heard when they were naked.

“Careful, Bobcat,” he leered at her.

“You do not want to ask me which of these I would pick,” she pointed to the entirety of the pastry bag and his crotch in turn.

“I may be disappointed,” he nodded sagely.

“I want to eat all of them,” she rifled through the bag and traded the half-eaten brioche to Logan for the almond croissant.

“Have at them,” he smiled but did eat the parts she left behind, butter and flour not his normal morning routine.

With 30 minutes to go before the port opened, Veronica took all their trash and headed back to the café to pee. She did a funny little pantomime about how her tall boyfriend had been there and showed the trash she was disposing of before pointing to the restroom sign. The same young girl from before chuckled and nodded.

“Oui, oui,” she said.

“Wee wee is right,” Veronica mumbled under her breath as she locked the bathroom door.

Finally, at 9:00 am on the dot the gates to the port opened and a line of cars behind Logan & Veronica proceeded to a marked parking lot. The port was a maze of warehouses and machine buildings for the busy shipping town of Marseilles, their goal was to find a specific lighthouse at the end of one of the long jetties for their next clue.

“I might not be eating right, but I am getting plenty of exercise,” Logan mused as they walked up and down the many lanes of the port.

“Is that it?” Veronica spotted one of 3 lighthouses and Logan jogged ahead.

Sure enough there was a clue box.

“More driving,” Veronica noted, “to Gorges du Blavet.”

“A gorge huh? Might be more bungee jumping!”

“Watching you jump off that tower yesterday was both thrilling and terrifying. It was how I feel every time you go off on deployment proud and scared and relieved but condensed to 60 seconds. I had all the emotions in 60 seconds,” Veronica said and suddenly Logan pulled her close and kissed her hard.

“Not complaining, but what was that for?” she asked as she savored the coffee taste of his kiss.

“That was one of the coolest things you have ever said,” he shrugged and laced his fingers through hers as they winded their way back to the car.

The drive to Gorges du Blavet was short and the parking lot clearly marked. They left their gear in the car and Veronica went ahead to grab the clue.

“Detour: ropes or slopes,” she read ahead and then recapped, “not bungee jumping but repelling down a rock cliff and then hiking back or walking down a long sloping trail to the same point and hiking back.”

“How do you feel about repelling?” Logan squinted.

“There’s a harness, right?” she asked.

“Yes, a harness and a helmet. Someone above will counter your weight which is practically nothing and catch you if you slip.”

“Let’s do it,” she said with an admirable amount of enthusiasm.

Other teams were arriving as well, and Logan and Veronica got harnessed up with Chip & Reichen and Monica & Cherie. Cherie was less enthusiastic than others.

“Oh, hell no,” she said as she looked over the edge, it was a long way down.

“We can walk,” Monica offered.

“No, I did this trip to challenge myself. Walking is for wimps,” she declared, and everyone cheered.

Logan and Veronica were ready first, so the guides helped get them situated.

“I’ve done this before, help her,” Logan offered, and he eased his way over the lip on to the rock face easily.

Veronica watched him do it and understood, even though it seemed counterintuitive to go backwards off a cliff.

She turned around and held her rope tightly, shuffling her feet back until her heels found the edge.

“Put your weight in to your toes and move one leg off the edge,” Logan said as he hung there waiting for her.

When she did her other foot slipped above and she let out a tiny shriek.

“You’re fine. Push off a bit and use your feet to catch you, there is a little ledge just below you,” the guides above let Logan instruct her and soon she was over the worst of it.

“Good job!” the guides cheered, and Monica & Cherie let out a girl power whoop.

“This isn’t so bad,” Veronica muttered to herself as she worked her ropes and kept herself steady.

Logan moved at her pace and took a minute to enjoy the view of the countryside around them and of Veronica. She was so focused on what she was doing her tongue was sticking out a tiny bit between her lips in concentration. For a moment he could see their child in her face, trying hard to solve a puzzle or tie their shoe, tongue peaking out and forehead furrowed.

“You doing OK?” he said quietly.

“I got this,” Veronica turned and gave him a big smile.

They made good time down the cliff and got their harnesses off easily, the hiking trail back to where they had parked was marked and easy. There were a few moments of incline where Veronica thought she might need to join a gym when they got home, but they made it back to the car and their next clue was under their windshield wiper.

“Drive to Chateau des Alpilles, the pit top for this leg of the trip,” Veronica read.

When they pulled into the hotel there was already another car there with the Global Challenge logo.

“Someone beat us,” Logan said.

“That’s OK,” Veronica replied honestly, “it was an unbelievable 28 hours.”

Logan shouldered both their bags and they walked into the hotel hand-in-hand.

“Hello!” Mark waved from the lobby.

“Hello,” Veronica smiled back.

“You are the second team to arrive,” he informed.

“Who beat us?” Veronica asked casually.

“Tian and Jaree, they got out of the port faster than anyone and had already cleared the repel when you got there,” Mark informed.

“Ah, we never even saw them after Paris,” Logan admitted.

“Here is your room key, a lunch voucher and information for dinner. The hotel has an amazing thermal spa with a heated pool, sauna and steam rooms and a gym, you are welcome to enjoy that this afternoon before dinner,” Mark informed.

“That sounds lovely,” Veronica took the paperwork since Logan had all their stuff.

“Enjoy the day!” Mark chimed as they turned for the elevators.

“We will!” Logan grinned.

TBC…


	6. Stuck in the Mud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day full of smelly challenges for Logan and Veroncia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has reached out with notes and reviews, I love every single one of them. I hope everyone is hanging in there and doing well. More notes at the end....

Logan and Veronica had so much fun in Marseilles, they were loath to depart, but when Veronica tore open the next clue her whole face lit up.

“Fly to Amsterdam!” she bounced up and down.

“Nice,” Logan agreed.

They hopped in their car and drove to the airport in Marseilles, it was still incredibly early and none of the ticket counters were open yet, the small airport practically deserted.

“Air France has an earlier flight,” Veronica showed him the clue as she dropped her bag right in front of the closed counter.

A sign indicated they would be open at 6:00 am, so Logan set his watch for a few minutes before six. Then he sat on the floor with his back supported by the backpacks and Veronica sat in front of him, her back to his chest. He wrapped his long arms around her and kissed the side of her head.

“What do you think awaits us in Amsterdam?” he whispered.

“Canals, Van Gogh, cheese!” she perked up on the last one.

Logan chuckled, his breath ruffling her hair and making her feel warm and calm. They sat quietly, giving, and receiving warmth from one another. Veronica was just starting to drift off to sleep when she heard Millie’s voice.

“See, I told you….” She sounded annoyed and Veronica pretended to be asleep.

“Only Logan and Veronica are here, if we had gone to British Airways like you wanted to, we would be on the second flight,” she kept at him.

“I was being prudent, if we are first at British Airways, we can get better seats,” Chuck tried.

“You are always prudent, you never take a chance, Chuck, “she dropped her bag right near Veronica’s feet and Veronica could tell Millie had moved to sit on the floor by the whoosh of air.

“You take too many chances,” Chuck kept at her.

“You’re ridiculous,” Millie countered, and Logan watched back and forth like a tennis match.

“And you are irresponsible,” Chuck volleyed back.

“What?” Millie stood back up suddenly and Veronica tried to squint her eyes open just a tiny bit to see them.

“You are terrible with money, you never finish anything you start, and you are constantly trying to tempt me to break my vow,” Chuck gritted out.

Logan had no idea what was going on, but he wished he could have pretended to sleep like Veronica was doing. He could tell by the tension in her body that she was not asleep.

“You are a control freak,” Millie moved closer to Chuck and her eyes were blazing, but before anyone could say anything else Logan’s watch sounded the alarm and broke the tension.

“Sorry,” Millie mumbled embarrassed as Veronica pretended to wake up.

“Mmmm, did I fall asleep?” she murmured as if she had no idea what was going on.

“Yes, Sugarpuss, you were sleeping like a log,” Logan said with mirthful insincerity. Millie and Chuck were oblivious.

Logan stood and helped Veronica to her feet and as they stretched a woman appeared behind the Air France counter and beckoned them forward.

“We need to get to Amsterdam as early as possible please,” Logan smiled.

“I have a flight via Paris that will get you there at 11:00 am,” the woman said with a click of her mouse.

Logan looked at Veronica who referenced the route info card and she nodded.

“Two seats, economy but as close to the front of the cabin as you can please?” Logan requested and handed over he Global Challenge credit card they used for their flights.

A few clicks later and the printer whirred to life, spitting out two sets of boarding passes for both legs of the flight.

“Gate 17, boarding starts at 7:30,” the woman smiled and handed over the passes.

“Merci,” Veronica smiled and as she turned to Millie and Chuck, she wished them good luck, whether it was in obtaining tickets or surviving their argument she was unsure.

Logan and Veronica deplaned at Charles de Gaulle airport after the first leg of their journey and Logan teased, “I promised I would bring you back to Paris!”

“We could just run away, live in Paris forever,” she suggested as she navigated her way to the next gate.

“Your dad wouldn’t like that very much,” Logan frowned.

“We could fly him over from time to time,” she shrugged as she pointed to their gate for the flight on to Amsterdam.

“Aren’t you curious about where we are going next? Don’t you want to see Amsterdam?” he asked as he got them 2 seats.

“Of course, but those other cities are going to have to go some to beat Paris,” she looked out the window as if she could see the Eiffel Tower instead of just some large planes and guys in orange safety vests.

“We’ll come back, for real,” he kissed her forehead and it was only because he was so close to her face that he heard her say.

“Maybe for a honeymoon.”

“Maybe,” he whispered back afraid of spooking her.

Veronica had hinted multiple times since he got home from this last deployment about their future and what it looked like. He never wanted to push her on things like that, he knew her hang-ups better than his own. He would marry Veronica here at the chapel that was surely hidden away somewhere in the airport, but he wanted her to be sure.

Chuck & Millie, Monica & Cherie and Reichen & Chip eventually joined them at the gate and the 6 of them were the only teams on the earlier flight.

When they got to Amsterdam, right at 11:00 am, they had to take a taxi to Magere Brug on the Amstel river. The tiny white bridge held a clue box and all 3 teams got there around the same time.

“Take a metal boat and drive yourself to the Scheepvart Museum,” Logan read, “a map and operating instructions are on the boat.”

“Well, that’s not fair, Logan’s in the Navy,” Millie teased.

“I don’t usually drive the aircraft carrier,” Logan grinned.

“You’ve probably had a few lessons on boats though,” Chip countered.

“One or two,” he winked, “pick your boat, babe.”

“This one,” Veronica picked a white metal boat with orange trim.

Logan hopped aboard and helped Veronica in, the little boat rocking at their shared weight. They sat on the bench seat and Logan reviewed the instructions and the map.

“See you on the other side,” Logan waved and steered their boat out into the canal.

“So pretty,” Veronica looked in every direction.

“You wanted canals,” he smiled at her as he passed under another bridge.

Logan didn’t ask for help and Veronica offered none as she just enjoyed the ride and the view. It was mid-day and lots of people were out walking and riding bikes, people waved, and she waved back. Soon, too soon for Veronica, Logan turned the boat and a wider stretch of water appeared, the museum ahead on the left. He pulled up to the piling and tossed a rope to hook a pillar, hopping out of the boat easily.

Veronica abandoned the vessel more reluctantly, but she did proceed to the clue box and grab a clue. None of the other teams were behind them.

“Think they got lost,” she looked out over the water.

“Possibly, that map is kind of useless,” Logan said grimly.

“500 kilograms or 15 feet,” Veronica read.

“Detour?” Logan asked and she nodded.

“500 kilograms is a 30-mile drive, we have to put on traditional wooden clogs and a cheese-sleigh, oooo cheese! And transport 500 kilograms of cheese to a scale.”

“That is a lot of cheese and what the hell is a cheese-sleigh?” Logan furrowed his brow.

“No idea,” she continued, “Fifteen feet is only a 12-mile drive and we have to…” she stopped talking.

“What?” Logan prompted.

“We have to dig through a 15-foot pile of cow manure for a clue,” she twisted her face up in horror.

“Well, that one would be faster,” Logan reasoned.

“You cannot be serious?” she gaped at him as Monica & Cherie arrived in their boat.

“Let’s go,” Logan waved at the women but pulled Veronica towards the parking lot where their cars were waiting.

“Cow manure, Logan? You do know what cow manure is,” she was still going on when he hopped in the car.

Directions to both locations were programmed into the guidance system and he hit the button for the farm.

“Yes, Veronica, I am aware of the concept of manure, I had an alpaca as a child,” his eyes twinkled.

“And I am sure you were the one that had to clean up after it,” she rolled her eyes.

“Well, no,” he shrugged.

“It’s a good thing I love you,” she grumbled.

The 12-mile ride was short and upon arrival they were given white jumpsuits to put on over their clothes and shower caps for their hair.

“My face and hands though,” Veronica waved around her uncovered bits.

“Will be fine,” Logan assured her.

The pile of cow manure was impressive, and it did not stop, there was some sort of machine that was adding manure to the top of the pile. The smell was intense, and Veronica had to pull her jumpsuit up over her nose and mouth.

Logan went right for the pile though, not an ounce of hesitation. This was not the pampered rich kid she once knew; this was a man who dealt with all manner of unpleasantness in his job and she should be less judgmental about his rich boy days.

“You go low and I’ll go high,” Logan suggested based on their height.

The manure was both warm and cold in spots and the texture was not that unpleasant, considering the smell. Veronica shoved her arm in up to the elbow and felt around, the squelching sound almost as bad as the smell.

Logan reached right over her, and she pressed her face into his belly where the jumpsuit was still clean. In a matter of minutes Logan extracted a clue wrapped in a plastic bag.

“Oh, thank God,” Veronica retreated from the pile quickly as Monica and Cherie arrived.

It took a while to get out of the jumpsuit and wash up and by the time they finished Monica and Cherie were done as well. The two teams moved on to the next clue, a statue called The Smoker in Monnickendam, a fishing village in North Holland.

Logan and Veronica had a slight lead, but Veronica desperately needed a restroom break and when they got to the statue Monica & Cherie were already there just seconds ahead.

Logan tore the clue open and read it out loud, “Roadblock: which one of you has a firm grip and likes seafood?”

Veronica laughed, “I’ll do it.”

“It’s probably not shellfish,” Logan countered.

“Not worth the risk. Plus, we both know how firm a grip I can have,” she leered but the moment was broken by a squeal from Monica who apparently found out what they had to grip, “uh oh.”

“Go get ‘em, Bobcat,” he patted her on the behind and then pushed her a little more firmly towards the sound of Monica’s yelp.

“What is it?” Veronica asked Cherie cautiously.

“Live eels,” she shuddered.

Veronica just nodded and rocked back on her heels.

“You have to grab 25 live eels and put them in the hold of a ship,” Logan read the back of the roadblock.

“OK,” she nodded.

She had to wait for Monica to finish as there was only one pile of eels to go around. When she finally got in the small boat and saw what she was dealing with it was slightly terrifying.

“What’s it look like?” Logan yelled from the dock.

“Ever see 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?” she yelled back as she figured out how to stand on the rails of the boat without going hip deep in eels.

“It is yucky,” Monica had tried to come up with a better word, but yucky was it.

“Poor, Veronica,” Logan frowned.

“I got this!” she yelled back and Logan, Monica & Cherie laughed.

“You can do it, girl!” Monica cheered and the 2 women headed off in first place.

Veronica kept her balance and lunged at the squirming eels, each over a foot long and pretty thick.

“Eeeek,” she squealed when she got the first one and the fisherman on board cheered.

She quickly figured it out and started flinging eels into the hold at a good speed.

“What do they feel like?” Logan shouted.

“Snakes, Logan, they feel like snakes!” she replied.

“Blech,” he whispered quietly.

On the 25th eel, Veronica cheered and high-fived the fisherman before climbing out of the boat and getting a clue from the deckhand.

“Good job,” Logan took the clue so Veronica could rinse her hands off with the bottle of water he offered.

“Drive to Kasteel Muiderslot in Muiden, the pit stop for this leg of the race,” Logan read.

“Oh good, I need like 3 showers,” Veronica drank the rest of the water after cleaning up and they headed back to their car.

“It’s only about 15 miles,” Logan promised, and Veronica settled into the passenger seat.

About halfway there, Logan noticed a car off the road and a familiar face on the edge of the road.

“Is that Monica?’ he asked as he slowed down and pulled over.

Logan hopped out of the car, “You guys OK?”

“Yeah, we were looking at the map and hit the shoulder of the road, it is so marshy here we are stuck,” Monica relayed.

“Let’s see what I can do?” Logan went into action and Veronica got out to keep Monica company while Cherie stayed behind the wheel of the car.

“You get all the eels?” Monica asked and Veronica nodded.

Logan found a rope in the trunk of their car.

“I can tie this to your bumper, and I should be able to pull you out,” he reported and jogged over to the back bumper of Monica & Cherie’s car.

“Your man is a dream,” Monica said.

“He sure is,” Veronica smiled fondly at him as he worked his magic.

“You guys stand back, there might be some mud,” Logan warned.

“I am already covered in cow manure and eels,” Veronica rolled her eyes and Monica cackled.

It took some dedication, but Logan was able to pull Cherie on to a drier patch of earth and her wheels caught enough traction. He removed the rope and stowed it in the trunk as Monica thanked him and got back in her car.

“My hero,” Veronica leaned in to kiss his cheek.

“No problem,” he scoffed at the attention.

Logan put their car back in gear and headed on towards the castle.

“This is a legit castle,” Veronica stared in awe, “with a moat and everything.”

They parked the car and followed the flag-marked path over the moat and through the gate. There were Monica and Cherie waiting just shy of Mark and the welcome crew.

“What’s up?” Logan asked.

“Monica & Cherie said you should get the first-place finish for your efforts in getting them out of the mud,” Mark informed.

“Oh, that was nothing,” Logan again pushed off the attention.

“We would still be there if you had passed us, so you deserve to finish first,” Cherie insisted.

“Thank you,” Veronica smiled and approached Mark.

“Logan and Veronica, you are the first team to officially check-in. Your reward for finishing this leg of the race first is the Turret Suite, it has amazing views, a little extra space and an opulent bathroom,” Mark recited.

“Well, I do smell like both cow manure and eels,” Veronica mentioned again.

“Everything you need to feel sparkling clean awaits you upstairs,” Mark winked.

“You sure you guys are OK with this?” Veronica asked Monica and Cherie.

“We have a bathroom, right? Just not quite as opulent?” Monica asked and Mark laughed.

“Yes, you have a bathroom.”

“We’re good then, enjoy the view and thank you again for stopping. I am not sure everyone else would have,” Monica reached out and squeezed Veronica’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” Veronica nodded, for the room and the kindness.

“Dinner is at 7:00,” Mark noted, and Logan nodded, shouldering both their bags and pulling Veronica close.

“I smell,” she muttered as they left.

“Don’t care,” he kissed her temple.

The room was, as the name implied, in one of the turrets of the castle. The castle did not have elevators, so the journey up to the room was a bit much, but it was worth it. The views were magnificent, and the bathroom was indeed opulent. 

“I need a shower,” Veronica sighed as she looked around the gorgeous room, afraid to sit or touch anything, “and to burn these clothes.”

“You go ahead, I’ll grab our stuff and join you,” Logan encouraged.

“You the best,” she smiled and fled to the bathroom.

The large tub would have to wait for later, she was too dirty to stew in a bath. Veronica quickly stripped off all her clothes and left them in a heap. She turned the faucet on the large stone shower stall on all the way to hot and waited for the steam to billow before stepping under the spray.

“Need anything in there?” Logan asked.

“There is soap in here, but a washcloth and my shampoo and conditioner please,” she called out.

Logan collected her requested items and delivered them before stripping out of his clothes and adding them to the pile.

“There is laundry soap on the vanity, I imagine they thought we might want to wash our clothes after today,” he said as he joined Veronica in the shower.

“Oh good, I didn’t really want to burn them, we might need them,” she said as she turned to share the soap with him. 

They washed up, getting fingers and toes and every bit in between and then Veronica turned her back to Logan and handed him her shampoo. He took the hint and squeezed out a dollop before lathering up her hair and massaging her scalp. She tipped her head back with a moan that went straight to his cock and when he turned her to rinse her hair, she took him in her hand.

“Llllet me finish your hair,” Logan stuttered as she stroked him.

“OK,” she said with a smile and turned back around, pressing her body back against his so she could feel him hard against her.

She moved against him as he ran his fingers through her hair to distribute the conditioner and he crouched a bit, so her bottom hit him just right.

“Yeah, Veronica,” he purred in her ear and it turned her on even more, she loved that she could do this to him.

“Good?” she asked with wink over her shoulder.

“So good,” he slid his hands, still slippery from the conditioner down her shoulders and around to cup her breasts, his fingers sliding easily over her nipples before moving even further down her torso.

Veronica tensed in anticipation of where his fingers were going next, but he quickly moved his hands up her sides and back to rinse her hair.

“Don’t want your hair to be greasy,” he said when she deflated a bit in his arms.

“I’ll manage,” she chuckled.

With the conditioner out of her hair, she turned to face him and launched herself into a kiss.

“More,” she scrabbled to touch him everywhere at once, one hand returning to his cock.

“Did those eels turn you on?” he grinned into the kiss and she used her other hand to smack his butt.

“No,” she laughed, “you turn me on, like all the fucking time,” she kissed him again.

“Bed?” he spoke right into her mouth as he turned off the water.

“Here,” she replied and backed him up to the stone seat in the shower stall.

Logan stuck out a hand to keep from slipping and crushing them both and sat as gracefully as he could with Veronica climbing him. He was inside her before he had a chance to catch his breath and he groaned as Veronica sank all the way down.

“Jesus,” he rolled his eyes up to the heavens.

Veronica often marveled at Logan’s body, his broad shoulders and impressive chest and arms tapered to a slim waist that she could straddle easily in this position. His arms were long enough to hold her firmly while she leaned back enough to get the perfect angle as she moved quickly, she could feel her body tightening, ready to release.

“I’m gonna….” She moaned and Logan shifted her angle to ease up a bit and she pouted.

“Not yet, Veronica, I can’t…. I want…I need,” he was panting now, and she smiled at him, her big tough guy reduced to fragments of thought as his pleasure sapped his normal eloquence.

“Need a minute?” she smiled and stroked a hand down his face, rode him slower.

“Yeah,” he took a deep breath.

The stall had retained its warmth and their heavy breathing kept things hot, the sounds of their breath echoing off the walls, louder than normal and Veronica could feel her belly coil again. She leaned in and sucked on Logan’s neck, felling his pulse jump under her lips and teeth. She raised up on her knees as far as she could until he nearly slipped out of her and then dropped herself back quickly and his resulting groan was all she needed.

“Fuck,” she said against his skin and he was coming with her.

“Not fair, sneaky,” he murmured as he kissed her and stood with her in his arms to turn the water back on.

They rinsed off and finished up in the bathroom before crawling into bed for a little pillow talk.

“Feel better?” Logan asked as he combed through Veronica’s wet hair.

“So much better,” she kissed his chest and snuggled closer.

“Despite all the smelliness, did you have a good day?”

“Yes, I loved the canals and the drive out to the farm was gorgeous, this place is gorgeous,” she pointed out the window to the view of windmills far off in the distance.

“We’ll come back and explore more, we could do Paris & Amsterdam in one trip,” he said sleepily.

“Am I mean to you?” Veronica asked suddenly.

“Huh?” Logan said clearly more alert.

“Listening to Chuck & Millie fighting, I heard some of myself in it. I can be petty and mean sometimes and I think I take it out on you.”

“Not really,” he brushed it off.

“Logan?” she looked up to see his face and he smiled at her.

“You are prickly, Veronica, you have been as long as I have known you. Even before Lily died, you were prickly, it’s part of your charm.”

“Do I make you feel bad about yourself?” she whispered unable to look him in the eye.

“No,” this answer was sure.

“Really?”

“Really. You poke at me, sometimes as foreplay and sometimes to deal with other shit you have going on in your head. I never take it personally, I am happy to be the person you trust to vent to,” he shrugged.

“That is a terrible thing for me to do to you,” she rested her chin on her hands on his chest.

“I think it shows that you trust my love for you, that you know you can come at me and it will either end with sex or me rolling my eyes at you. You trust in us enough to be your prickliest with me and I won’t stop loving you for it,” he explained, and she smiled at him.

“I do love you, above all others…”

“…’til death do us part?” he teased.

“Til death do us part,” she leaned up to kiss his lips.

TBC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this castle is real, but I don't think they have guest rooms like this. Looking at it online it just seems to be a museum-type place, but Veronica really needed a shower. This chapter was tough as I had a trip to Amsterdam planned for May which has of course been cancelled, so I visited virtually by investigating this castle :)


	7. Catch of the Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new continent brings some surprising challenges and a more surprising conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is safe and well! This chapter was a lot of fun to write, hope you enjoy it!

“We can’t sleep through dinner again,” Veronica said sleepily as she ran her fingers up and down Logan’s forearm.

“I know, up and at ‘em, Buttercup,” he patted her hip softly and slipped out of her grasp.

Veronica picked out some clean clothes for them to wear as Logan washed up and they were down from the turret in time to join all the other teams for dinner.

The first thing Veronica noticed was Chuck sitting at a different table from Millie and both looking sad. She nudged Logan and he just nodded. Also separated were Tian and Jaree, but Veronica had no idea what that was about. Luckily, Monica & Cherie were sitting with Chip & Reichen and they called them over to take the 2 empty seats there.

“How is the turret? Do you feel like Rapunzel?” Cherie joked.

“I am trying to grow out my hair,” Veronica smiled and took a beer from a passing waiter.

“Some of everything I assume,” Logan raised his eyebrows and indicated he would get their food.

“Yes, please,” she smiled.

“Girl, how do you eat like that and look like this?” Monica asked.

“Dumb luck,” Veronica admitted, “I have no doubt some day my metabolism is going to stop cold and I will double in size within a month, but for now, I am grateful.”

Logan brought a first course of various cheeses and pickles with bread before going back for hot food.

“Does he always wait on you like that?” Monica asked, not unkindly.

“When he first gets home from a deployment, he is pretty attentive. He just got back a few weeks ago, so he is still catching up.”

Veronica dug into the cheese and bread, knowing Logan would only eat a tiny bit of that anyway and drank her beer.

“How you guys doing, Chip?” Veronica asked between nibbles of cheese.

“Good, we are loving all the challenges. Wish we could see more of the cities though.”

“Same. I’ve already made a list of all the places we are coming back to, so far it is all the places,” she smiled at Logan as he presented more food and sat down, she offered him her beer.

“I imagine we will be leaving Europe soon though; I wonder what is next,” Reichen said with an air of mystery.

***555***

“Make your way to Mumbai, India,” Veronica read with wide eyes the next morning.

“Hope you enjoyed Europe,” Mark smiled.

Logan had an inscrutable look on his face as he glanced at his watch.

“We can catch a train to Schiphol, nothing will be open there for at least an hour,” he noted as he realized the early hour.

“OK,” Veronica nodded and waved good-bye to Mark.

Once in a cab to the train station, Logan turned to face Veronica.

“Mumbai is tough. I have spent a bit of time there,” he said vaguely, and she is sure he didn’t mean on vacation, “I don’t mean to scare you, it is also amazing in so many ways. I know my way around pretty well, but when I suggest something there it is really for the best.”

Logan was incredibly easy going most of the time these days. If he suggests something and Veronica demurs, he just rolls with it, so he wanted her to know that he might not be so flexible on this leg.

“It won’t be like Europe. It will be hot and crowded and there is a lot of smog, there are a lot of animals and not all cute. It can be a lot. This will be the ‘challenge’ part of Global Challenge.”

“OK,” Veronica said, intrigued.

“It is also very far away, prepared for another long flight?”

“With you as my very warm full body pillow? Absolutely.”

There were 2 flight options when they arrived at the airport. Direct on KLM which got them to Mumbai at 11:30 pm or through Milan which got them in 50 minutes earlier.

“The connection could be a problem,” Logan worried at his bottom lip.

“It is only 50 minutes difference and it is late in the evening, we likely won’t be able to do anything until morning anyway,” Veronica added.

“Good point, direct it is.”

“Added bonus, I only have to get comfy on one plane,” Veronica said as she requested their seats near the front of the cabin.

All but 2 teams went with the direct flight, Millie Chuck and Chip & Reichen were on the connecting flight through Milan.

The KLM plane was comfortable and by some miracle Logan and Veronica had no one else in their 3-seat section, so once the plane was airborne, they both caught a little sleep. It wasn’t a night flight though so a few hours in they were awake and enjoying lunch.

It was past 11 pm when they landed in Mumbai, but it was still hot and the noise from outside made Veronica think it was much earlier in the evening. They had to take a cab from the airport to Film City where a lot of the big Bollywood films were made.

“Ahhhh, a film set, my childhood playground,” Logan laughed as they made their way to a cab.

The cabstand was a free for all with drivers shouting out for fares and Logan picked the most modern looking car he saw. As they rode from the airport the streets were still full of people, some who appeared to live in small covered areas. Veronica was quiet and Logan watched her watching out the window.

For all Veronica had been through in her life, she hadn’t ever seen life like this.

“There are so many kids,” she said quietly, not wanting to sound judgmental to their driver.

“Yeah,” Logan said and kissed the top of her head.

When they got to Film City, Reichen & Chip and Chuck & Millie were there ahead of them, the connecting flight coming through fine, but as Veronica suspected they were all stuck there waiting until morning.

“There is no where to go,” Millie explained.

“It’s warm enough, we can sleep out here,” Logan assessed the area in military-mode.

“You think?” Millie seemed to trust Logan’s judgment.

“Yeah, if we stay close and keep our gear to the inside,” there was a raised cement area that might have been to set up a tent for an outdoor event that was big enough for all of them to sleep.

“I miss the turret,” Veronica sighed.

“It’ll be fine,” Logan assured and as the other teams arrived, they set up their make-shift camp.

It was not the best night’s sleep for anyone, nearby dogs barked all night long and every twig snap woke someone. Logan curled around Veronica to keep her warm and in the morning the women ventured off to the woods to find a place to pee. 

When the gates opened, they were instructed to find Studio 10 on a bicycle.

“Thank God you forced me to ride,” Veronica said.

“See, I knew it would come in handy someday, plus…”

“Yeah yeah, better for the environment,” she smirked, and he kissed her lips before heading down the path.

Not everyone had relearned riding a bike as an adult and there were some choice words coming from behind them. The bikes were not the newest models either and Veronica’s chain kept catching, but she got the hang of it and after about 10 minutes the studios came in to view. They circled the lot until they found Studio 10.

Veronica was awed by the film studio which was full of actors and dancers in gorgeous colorful outfits doing an intricate dance routine. Their clue was somewhere on the set and they had to weave in between the dancers to look for it, Veronica stared at the gorgeous women and Logan found the clue.

“Ready?” he smiled at her and she tore herself away, humming the catchy music as they left.

When they emerged into the humid day, the temperature going up by the minute, Logan tugged her to a shady spot before opening the clue.

“Detour,” he informed, “Suds or Duds,” he smirked at the goofy names.

“Suds requires us to go to Dhobi Gat, the washer man’s village in Mahalaxmi and handwash a bundle of laundry until our clue is revealed on one of the pieces. Duds, we have to find a small textile shop in downtown and look through saris until we find the one with the clue on it. We must use public transportation or walk, no taxis.”

“What do you think?” Veronica asked, truly unsure for the first time on the trip.

“Dhobi Gat is well-known; the train goes right to Mahalaxmi. The trains are crazy though, but it will be an experience. We could wander around the alleys of the shopping district for hours,” Logan reasoned.

“You know how much I love laundry,” Veronica rolled her eyes, but she smiled, “let’s go do some laundry.”

They hopped on the bikes and peddled back to the main gate of Film City and then took off on foot back towards town. Logan kept looking back over his shoulder and suddenly he reached out and stopped Veronica with a hand on her arm, she saw a bus approaching.

Logan fished out some coins and paid the driver and they rode the rest of the way on a crowded, but not oppressive bus. The roads were pitted, and one bump lifted Veronica off her seat, a young Indian woman across from her chuckled and Veronica joined her in a laugh and made a show of holding on to her seat.

When they got off at the train station Logan got them tickets to Mahalaxmi, they only had about 20 minutes to wait.

“Are you OK if I spend a couple bucks?” Logan asked mysteriously.

“Sure,” she shrugged.

He walked them to a kiosk and bought about 50 pieces of individually wrapped candy for the equivalent of 2 US dollars. He handed her a dozen or so pieces, “save that for later.”

She tucked the candy in her pack, and he tilted his head towards the main entrance to the station. Sure enough there were a bunch of kids outside the station and as soon as Logan emerged with his aviator sunglasses on and the paper bag in his hands, they knew he had candy. 

Soon the couple was surrounded by children laughing and bouncing around. They handed out candy and Logan tossed a ball one of the kids gave him and they played a quick game of catch.

Veronica looked past the riotous group of mostly boys and saw a little girl, maybe 6, in a pink dress and crooked pigtails standing off to the side.

She moved away from the group, caught Logan’s eye and he smiled his agreement, as she moved towards the little girl. Veronica crouched down to get even closer to the girl and held out the sweet.

“Hi,” Veronica said quietly, and the girl approached and took the candy.

“Thank you,” she said and unwrapped the candy and popped it in her mouth.

Her smile was so huge it literally lifted Veronica off the ground.

“Have another one,” she gave the girl another.

“Nice lady,” the girl said and patted Veronica on the head.

Veronica barked out a laugh that was laced with a few tears.

“You are so pretty,” Veronica smiled, and the girl twirled in her dress, which was tattered and dirty, but still no less beautiful with this little person in it.

“Hey, we have to go,” Logan said softly, afraid of spooking Veronica in the moment.

“Yeah,” she stood up and waved to the little girl who waved back and ran back to her friends.

Logan wrapped an arm around Veronica and pulled her close and kissed her head but didn’t say a thing.

When they moved back into the station and out towards the track where their train would be arriving in a few minutes, Logan did speak,” this train will be packed, we have about a 20-minute ride. There won’t be seats, probably not even anything to hold on to. It will be mostly men and there will be pushing and shoving. Are you wearing your money belt?”

“Yes,” she nodded, their passports and other valuables were strapped to her body and not in her pack.

“When the train approaches, face me and I will lift you up and push you into the train, keep your self wrapped around me and I will use your pack to push through instead of you. I don’t need to hold on, so just hold on to me and you’ll be OK. When we get to Mahalaxmi, I will let you go and put you in front of me and push you out, be prepared to jump down to the platform, the train won’t quite stop.”

“OK,” Veronica nodded as she noticed the platform filling up with people as the train rumbled its approach.

The train was already packed and very few people got off at this station. Logan did exactly what he said and picked Veronica and her pack up with ease and pressed into he crowd, finding a space big enough for them and their gear as the area around them filled further.

The train was hot and did not smell that great and Veronica buried her face in Logan’s chest. He had slept outside in those clothes and any lingering soap smell from Amsterdam was long gone, but it was Logan and at his basest, she loved his smell.

“You OK?” he asked above the combined noise of the crowd and the train, the door open to the outside for a little air, but that just made things louder.

Veronica just nodded against him. Logan kept an ear out as each station was announced, he had memorized the order of stops.

“Not the next stop but the one after,” he prepared her, and she nodded again.

Logan’s hands on her back were warm and her skin was sticky and sweaty from the heat, but she liked having him hold her like this, she couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else.

“OK, get ready,” he said and separated from her enough that she could shimmy in front of him.

The crowd on the train was mostly men and they gave her no clearance to get to the door, but Logan said a crisp “excuse us” and a few of them stepped back. The train slowed to a near stop and the hop to the platform wasn’t bad, Veronica made it with no problem and Logan came down right behind her.

“You alright?” he asked as she brushed her hair back and caught her breath, the train already long gone.

“I want to get married,” she said suddenly.

Logan just raised his eyebrows.

“Not today of course, we have laundry to do and all, but I love you Logan and no one makes me feel safer or more secure or more loved than you. No one ever has,” she said in a rush.

“I love you too, Veronica,” he leaned down to kiss her softly.

“So that’s my view on the subject, let’s go do this laundry,” she blushed a little at her outburst and turned towards the small station in Mahalaxmi.

Logan lead them to Dhobi Gat, a place he had been not too long ago and was close to the railway station. It was a huge open-air laundry with hundreds of people washing clothes. Logan found the main entrance and there were bundles of clothes tied with Global Challenge colored tags.

“These appear to be ours,” Logan hefted the bundle on his shoulder and put his other hand on Veronica’s back to guide her through the crowd.

There were washing tubs with Global Challenge flags on them as well, so Logan picked one and dropped the laundry.

“Do you have any open sores on your feet? Blisters? Cuts?” he asked as he stripped off his socks and shoes.

“No, I have armadillo feet, you know that” she laughed and took off her sneakers and socks.

“Easiest way to do this is in the water,” he said as he climbed into the murky water.

While they got situated Millie & Chuck and Tian & Jaree arrived.

“Were you on our train?” Veronica asked, “Funny we didn’t see you in the throng.”

“That was single-handedly the worst experience of my life,” Tian said, and her eyes filled with tears.

“You OK?” Veronica didn’t love this woman, but she was clearly upset.

“A guy kept grabbing at me,” she admitted.

“Oh god,” Veronica frowned, “you need anything?”

“I’ll be fine,” she smiled at Veronica and they moved on to their wash station.

They worked together, Veronica washed, and Logan wrung and beat the sheets on the side of the tub unit. About halfway through, Veronica found the clue inked on one of the dirty sheets.

“Hey, this is it,” she tugged Logan’s arm, “do we need to finish?”

Logan pulled the clue out of his cargo shorts and reread it.

“It says we have to do the laundry until we find the clue,” he smiled.

“Oh, thank god,” Veronica wiped at her sweaty brow.

“Let me wring this out and we will clean up,” Logan promised.

“I am unsure I will ever be clean again.”

They found a bench and sat down, Logan got the water from his pack and rinsed their feet and then produced some hand sanitizer and slathered it on both their feet before putting their socks and shoes back on. Same for their hands and then they were off with their still wet sheet/clue.

“Indo Universal Engineering at Sassoon Docks,” Veronica read.

“Nothing that says we cannot take a taxi, right?” he looked at the sheet and it was just stamped with that word.

“Yep.”

“Good,” he flagged down a taxi and they were on their way.

When they arrived at Sassoon Docks it took a while to find the clue box.

“Roadblock,” Veronica read as she opened it, “Who feels like the catch of the day?”

The look on Veronica’s face was priceless.

“Let me ask the crew if there is shellfish involved, this is unbelievable, two seafood challenges in a row.”

Logan took the clue and headed over to the crew, a guy named Adam he remembered from the first day.

“Adam, right?” Logan approached with a smile.

“Yeah, what can I do for you Logan?”

“I have a shellfish allergy; it is likely on my chart. Does this challenge involve any shellfish? Veronica did the eel roadblock because we were worried that clue would involve shellfish and I don’t want to make her do this one too.”

“Regular fish, that is all I can say, but they are just regular fish and you won’t be eating anything,” Adam confirmed.

“OK, great, I’m going to do it then,” he told the crew and returned to tell Veronica.

The challenge was to look at a specific type of fish and then go into the crowded fish market and collect 20 of the exact same type of fish from a huge pile of various fish. The fish were decent size and the woven basket Logan was given was quite large.

He looked at the example fish and noted the shape, size, color and the distinctive fin and then headed into the market. The smell was like a wall of fish, it stopped him in his tracks, and he had to regroup and move on.

Once he got to the pile of fish, he was focused on his assignment and he rifled through the pile looking for the Palai fish he needed. When he had twenty, he lifted the basket up on to his head as he saw locals doing. The basket was heavy, but the weight was manageable for Logan, it was the fishy water dripping down his scalp and along his neck that was particularly unpleasant.

He got to the truck where he had to deliver the fish and counted them out. Chuck was right behind him, but Chuck had not gotten all the right fish and had to go back. Logan was given their clue and Veronica was ready with some wet napkins to try and clean him up a bit.

“Can you dump a little water on my head?” he asked and leaned down.

Logan’s hair was still military short so a little water and a brush through with her hands and he was in better shape.

“Where to?” she asked, and Logan tore open the clue.

“Gateway of India,” he read, “it’s a monument, like the Arc di Triomphe, not far. Not sure where we are sleeping though.”

They got another taxi and it dropped them close enough to the Gateway to walk. Mark was waiting there with some locals to welcome them.

“Hello guys, seems like ages since I saw you. Logan and Veronica, you are the first to arrive here in Mumbai. Your prize for this leg of the race is a mystery until the end, but trust me, you will be extremely glad you won this leg.”

“I’m intrigued,” Veronica nodded.

“No hotel tonight folks, we are camping, but not super rough. You see those tents over there,” Mark pointed to a nearby park with 4 giant tents, like at a circus.

“One is the food tent, two are latrines with full showers one for men and one for women and the big one is for sleeping. As the first pair here, you can stake out a spot of your choice and get cleaned up.”

“I know I smell like fish,” Logan hung his head in mock shame.

“I never could have carried all 20 of those suckers in one go, my big strong fella,” Veronica bumped his side with her shoulder and Mark laughed.

“You earned some rest, enjoy!”

They walked over to the park and found the tent for sleeping first, the picked cots near the back and off to the side and pushed them together and zipped the provided sleeping bags together. Everything was logoed with Global Challenge stuff, so this was their own tent city they used in various locations and it was quite nice with an actual floor under their feet and fans set up on a generator.

Once their space was claimed they each grabbed stuff from their pack to shower.

“I will miss our shared showers,” Veronica pouted as she reached up under Logan’s sweaty tee shirt to run her hands along his back.

“We have had some good shower sex on this trip. I’ll make it up to you on or next stop,” he winked and gave her a quick peck, “but right now I am pretty sure I have fish entrails behind my ears.”

Veronica laughed and let him go pushing him towards the exit to the tent. They each went to their designated tent for showering. The latrine tent was big with an actual wall of shower stalls and 4 camping toilets with curtains around them and a wall of sinks.

“Not bad for roughing it,” Veronica nodded and used the facilities before hopping in a shower. 

The water was hot and the pressure decent and Veronica had a quick and effective shower without Logan to distract her with his hotness. She was not surprised to find Logan back at the cots before her, his military training kicking in for efficient showering.

“Feel better?” she asked as she stowed her sweaty clothes in a Ziploc bag.

“Much,” he smiled as he zipped up his pack and laid it at the foot of his cot.

“Hey…” Logan was about to say something, when Veronica also spoke at the same time asking if he was hungry.

“Yeah, yeah I am,” he nodded deciding to save his question for later.

They moved to the food tent and passed Tian & Jaree and Chuck & Millie who had just arrived.

“The shower is pretty fantastic,” Veronica called, and all 3 women smiled brightly.

Logan grabbed 2 bottles of water and some of the snacks that were out and found a table and they sat and ate quietly. Eventually the tent filled with the other teams and soon huge steaming trays of delectable Indian food was delivered.

Everyone was exhausted but excited about their new adventure. No one in the group had been to India before except Logan and he did not give up that information, because why would a Naval aviator be in India and he hadn’t told anyone he was actually Intelligence.

Veronica told them about buying the candy for the kids and several teams agreed they would do that tomorrow if they were still here.

“I can’t believe they would fly us all the way here for 1 day,” Veronica noted, “Europe was one thing, each country is only an hour flight away, but it took us all day to get here.”

“I hope we get to see more,” said Chip as he took a huge mouthful of his dinner.

“You mean eat more,” Reichen teased, “he loves his Indian food.”

The night ended shortly after dinner, everyone tired after the long journey and happy for even a cot after sleeping outside the night before.

The sleeping tent was spread out well and even though they were all together under one roof their little back corner was quiet and private. Logan and Veronica crawled into the extra-large sleeping bag. Veronica’s legs tangled instantly with Logan’s and her arms wrapped around his neck, she kissed the pulse point there.

“Did you mean what you said today?” Logan whispered.

“Yes,” she knew what he was referring to and knew he had been dying to ask her.

“OK,” he said, “OK.”

“Do you not want that? Marriage.”

“I want it more than anything, Veronica. I want you. Always.”

TBC…


	8. Chicken in a Basket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very hot train ride in India.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope everyone is well and safe. I am still down in the suburbs with my parents, but I am anxious to get back to the city. A fun fact about this story that I don't think I have mentioned: I am watching the season of Amazing Race I am using as I write, so I have no idea where I am sending Logan and Veronica until the week I write the story! Hope you enjoy this week's installment.

It was another early morning or late evening, if you asked Veronica, for their departure from the camp near the Gateway to India.

As expected, they were not leaving the huge country just yet, but they were relocating.

“Take a train from Panvel Station to Ernakulum Junction,” Logan read.

“Oh boy another train,” Veronica sighed.

“I think I know someone who might help us,” Logan said quizzically.

“Huh?” Veronica was still a little sleepy.

“I have a friend here,” he reiterated, “and he can help us sort out the best train to take.”

“It’s not quite 4 in the morning,” Veronica pointed out.

“He owes me a couple favors,” Logan shrugged, and they headed back towards town where shockingly Logan found a pay phone.

He also had the right change for a pay phone and in seconds he was talking to someone named Pratik.

“No, this is a vacation. A real vacation,” Logan rolled his eyes.

“Apparently no one vacations in Ernakulum Junction,” he whispered.

“Veronica,” Logan said into the phone, “yes, really.”

Assuming this Pratik had asked who he was talking to, Veronica smiled thinking Logan had clearly mentioned her before.

“OK, so if we leave Victoria Station around 6:00? Uh huh, 11:20 out of Panvel…how many hours?” Logan nearly shrieked.

“How many hours?” Veronica clutched his arm.

“26,” he whispered.

“Is there a first-class cabin?” Logan asked Pratik, “OK, that’s doable, thanks man.”

With that the call ended and Logan flagged them a taxi to Victoria station.

“What was all that?” Veronica asked in shock.

“I told you I have been here before, I have a couple friends,” he shrugged.

“Friends or assets?” she whispered.

“Think Cliff McCormack, but Indian,” Logan answered, and Veronica tried to imagine it.

The ride to Victoria station was short and Logan got them tickets on the express train to Panvel departing at 6:00 am, they did not see any other teams so he assumed they all went direct to Panvel, which would cost them a lot of their spending money for the trip.

Veronica stuck close, but her eyes roamed the small station where a lot of people were sleeping, and an old man was panhandling rather unsuccessfully. Around 5:00 am a tea cart opened, and Veronica got them some tea and some breakfast pastries, she got an extra one. After handing Logan theirs, she walked over to the old man and realized he was blind.

“Sir?” she asked timidly, “would you like something to eat?” she asked not sure if he even spoke English.

He smiled then, a wide toothless smile and she noticed he reached up, but his eyes never moved form the spot they were trained on.

“Here you go,” she placed the warm roll speckled with currants in his hands and clasped them for a minute, felt his wisdom and his suffering.

“Dhanyavaad,” he said quietly and nodded his head.

“You’re welcome,” she nodded back even though he couldn’t see her.

Veronica watched for a second as the man tore a bit from the roll and ate it slowly. Logan had a slow sweet smile on his face when she returned to his side.

“Making friends?” he asked.

“Please don’t ever let me complain again if we run out of almond milk,” she nuzzled into his embrace and sipped her tea.

“My prickly marshmallow,” he squeezed her gently.

Suddenly he looked up and went still for a moment, he scanned the area and saw no other teams had shown up, so he took Veronica’s hand and led her outside.

“Pratik,” Logan nodded and reached out a hand.

“I had to see her with my own eyes,” Pratik shrugged and shook the offered hand.

“Veronica Mars meet Pratik Chakrabarti. Pratik, my real girlfriend, Veronica,” Logan gave a flourish and a bow.

“Hi!” Veronica waved and Pratik walked around her, appraising.

“You do appear to be an actual human woman,” he said oddly.

“Huh?” Veronica looked at Logan who rolled his eyes.

“He talks about you like you are real, but I was unsure. I worried he had made you up in his head,” Pratik smiled now.

“I assure you, I am real,” Veronica laughed.

“And you actually date this lug? You could do better.”

“Probably, but I’ve invested a lot of time in this one,” Veronica joined in on the joke.

“Funny too, she really is perfect, Squid,” Pratik reached out and gave Logan a playful shove, even though the Indian man was about 8 inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter.

“Squid?” Veronica arched an eyebrow.

“Term of affection for the boat guys,” Pratik assured.

“Not on boats much these days,” Logan pointed out.

“You fly the flag,” Pratik quirked his mouth up on one side.

“It’s good to see you,” Logan smiled.

“You really here on vacation?” Pratik whispered.

“Yes, we are doing a Global Challenge, around the world in 3 weeks kind of thing,” Logan summarized.

“You have odd ideas of fun,” Pratik shook his head.

“It was my idea,” Veronica interjected.

“Oh, that makes sense, having him home must be a real bummer, had to spice things up.”

Logan barked out a laugh and Veronica smiled; she rarely saw Logan with someone outside their Neptune group. Once in a while they would do something with Logan’s old WSO and his wife or a couple guys from the gym will join him surfing, but this is Logan with a trusted friend who is not Dick Casablancas and it is kind of fascinating.

“We have a train to catch,” Logan said and hooked his thumb back towards the station.

“Buy the upgrade, you do not want a repeat of last March,” Pratik went in for a hug and Logan clapped him on the back a couple times.

“I know, I am a delicate flower. This one could probably take it, but not me,” Logan said and gave Veronica a wink.

“It is an honor and a privilege to meet the woman who makes my friend here so happy,” Pratik took her hand and kissed it.

“I am very happy to meet you as well,” Veronica said honestly and with that he waved and turned to leave.

“What happened last March?” she arched an eyebrow at Logan.

“We had a long train ride, 2nd class, and I was a bit whiny about it all apparently. You can take the boy out of the ’09 but you cannot always take the ’09 out of the boy.”  
The train from Victoria to Panvel was blessedly not as crowded as the previous day’s trip. They got a bench seat together and the half hour passed quickly.

At Panvel they met up with the other teams who had all spread out in the station to try and catch a little more sleep. Tired waves were exchanged, and Logan headed to the ticket counter.

“Does the clue say anything about not taking first class?” Logan asked, remembering the conversation with Pratik, and Veronica pulled the clue from her pack.

“You may travel on any class available,” Veronica read the fine print.

Logan nodded and stepped up as it was his turn.

“Two tickets to Ernakulum Junction, 11:20 am, please.”

The man behind the window showed him 3 prices and Logan pointed and counted out the money.

“It is less than $16 more to go first class, trust me, it will be worth all of that.”

“We saved money by coming here by train, right?”

“Yeah, at least that much,” Logan nodded as he looked at their tickets and thanked the agent.

“My big smart guy,” Veronica wrapped her arms around one of his and he laughed.

The other teams were waking up and looking for food. Logan mentioned the upgrade but since many of the groups had taken the longer taxi ride, they were hesitant to invest the cash.

“You can upgrade on the train as well, if you change your mind.”

When the train approached, they boarded, and Logan and Veronica went right to 1st class and everyone else went left. Even for first class the train car was hot and older, but the bunks were more spread out and each pod only had two bunks.

“It’s 6 to a pod in 2nd class and 3rd class is just benches no bunks,” Logan said as he stowed their packs and pulled out some snacks and water and his journal.

Veronica grabbed her book and the small camera she brought. She snapped a picture of Logan stretched out on his bunk, his face in profile and the sunlight from the window making him glow.

“You are awfully pretty,” she said with a grin.

The conductor came through and took their tickets, Logan asked if there were empty pods in 1st class and the conductor confirmed that most of them were empty.

“Who you want to bet comes up here first, my money is on Monica and Cherie,” Logan laughed.

“I’m going to say Chip & Reichen,” Veronica reached her hand out to shake on the bet and Logan tugged her into his lap.

“We have not had nearly enough alone time on this part of the trip,” he lamented as he leaned in to kiss her neck.

“Well that little privacy curtain is nowhere near enough to get me naked, buddy,” she warned.

“That’s OK, I’ll settle for a little under the shirt action,” he bobbed his eyebrows and she laughed.

“Like we’re back in the Xterra,” she smirked.

“I miss the Xterra,” he frowned.

“You bike for the environment now, you can’t have a giant gas guzzler like that anymore,” she pointed out as she slipped her hand in the back waistband of his shorts and rubbed his hip.

“Pull that privacy curtain, will ya,” his voice was low now and Veronica felt it all the way to her toes.

She sat up then, short enough to not hit her head on the luggage rack above her and arched her back to reach the curtain. The movement jutted her chest towards Logan and just as she swished the curtain closed, he sat up and tugged her V-neck tee down enough to attach his mouth to the swell of her breasts.

“Logan,” she sighed and clutched his head to her chest, shifted to get his mouth closer to her nipple, “more.”

“How much more?” his eyes were dark and swirly with lust.

“This escalated quickly,” she smiled as she ground down against him looking for some friction.

“Want you, so much,” he said between licking and sucking and scraping his teeth over her bra.

Veronica reached for the button on his shorts, she had to touch him, to feel him. Her boldness encouraged him, and he pushed aside the cup of her bra to reach actual flesh while keeping her shirt in place. She arched into his mouth further and felt her stomach flutter.

“Fuck,” she sighed, and he knew she was gone, her hand moved to hold him the thick hard heat of him made her breath short. She reached up and got the hoodie that was tied to his pack, the stretch dislodged her breast from his mouth and Logan grunted his displeasure.

“Just a second,” she promised as she tied the hoodie around her waist to cover her back side as she shimmied out of her own shorts.

“You sure?” Logan had regained enough brain function to check in again.

Veronica just nodded and got to a point where she could get one leg out of her shorts and straddle him.

“Do that thing with your tongue again,” she moaned as she sunk down on him and he returned to her breast, slick from his earlier work and puckering in the open air.

The train rumbled to life and it lurched coming out of the station causing Veronica to shift and both of them to moan at the change in angle.

“Shhh,” they both chided at the other.

Logan moved his mouth from her breast to her mouth and used his thumb to continue working against her nipple. He captured her lips at the perfect moment to swallow her next squeak of pleasure.

“Faster,” she commanded; the word spoken into his mouth directly between kisses.

“You’re on top,” he pointed out and then returned to devouring her mouth.

Veronica accepted the challenge and keeping in mind that anyone could walk by their little curtained love nest at any time set a pace that was satisfying but not too noisy, the train providing some coverage as the wheels squeaked and rumbled.

“Ahhh,” she tore her mouth away and gritted as the pleasure built.

“I am so close,” she whispered as she doubled her effort and sat up straighter to get the perfect angle.

Logan remembered their first summer together, how they would get each other so worked up and then stop, she would always stop. He never pushed, but he knew she wanted this, she wanted to come. In their adult life she was much more open, vulnerable and trusting in bed, but he could see how desperate she was for release back then. The same hungry look on her face right now.

He knew her body now, knew which type of touch she needed, and he selfishly withheld it sometimes so he could last a little longer. He rarely could ride out an orgasm like the one she was working to right now. 

Today though, in this nearly public space, he figured he should move this along to its inevitable conclusion. He sat up enough to change the angle yet again, going deeper and stroking just the way she needed him to while he also returned to nibbling on her nipple, gentle then harder until she dropped her head back and gulped for air.

Just when he thought he couldn’t hold out anymore she pulled his face up to hers and crushed her mouth to his, her body coming in undulating waves. He didn’t even try to hold on any longer, it felt so good, as he thrust up and met her body wave for wave.

Their kisses went from frantic to slow and deep. Logan wrapped her in his arms, pulling her closer and making sure she was covered should the curtain flutter open. Finally, Veronica pulled back and smiled at him.

“Woof,” she giggled.

He smiled as he hugged her and nuzzled behind her ear. They were well past the station and Veronica arched her neck to see out their window at the city passing by and giving way to countryside. She reached over and snagged the water and a pile of napkins from their snacks.

“This was a little messy,” she wrinkled her nose, but it did nothing to mar the flush of her cheeks.

“Worth it,” Logan murmured as he trailed a long finger down, he side of her neck and felt her shiver.

“Yeah,” she breathed out the word.

They were not cleaned up and redressed for five minutes when they heard Millie calling for them. Veronica’s eyes went big at how close they were to being caught in an indelicate position.

“We’re here,” Veronica said as she stood up and opened the curtain.

She was met with, well, everyone.

“We should have listened to Logan,” Chuck shook his head.

“He grew up in first class, it is in his blood,” Veronica blew it off trying to keep Logan’s cover. 

There was room for all the teams in first class and they told their tales of how crowded and hot it was back in 2nd class. A bunch of the guys went off in search of food and booze, they were on this train for another 24 hours, they might as well have some fun.

***555***  
When the train finally pulled into Ernakulum Junction the teams were off in a shot, running the platform and up the flight of stairs to cross over to the taxi stand. Veronica was able to keep pace and it earned her a wink from Logan.

Their clue said they had to ride along Highway 47 until they saw a billboard with the Global Challenge flag colors. This was a task perfectly suited to a PI and a spy, but the highway was crowded with billboards. Finally, after about 20 minutes on the highway Logan pointed and said, “there!”

The cab driver waited while Logan dodged traffic to get to the clue box.

“We have to go to Allepey,” he reported to both the cab driver and Veronica, “to the sports field?”

“I know it,” the cab driver nodded.

“Great,” Logan hopped back in the cab and they were off.

When they reached the sports field, Tian and Jaree were already there and there was a lot of raucous noise. Veronica tore the clue open.

“Roadblock: who can put up with a lot of bull?” she read and gave him a warning look.

Logan burst out laughing, “I’m doing this one,” he plucked the card from her hands.

Logan watched as the bull races commenced. Two big horned bulls, pulling a plow-like structure with 2 men running and pushing it faster and the contestant had to hang on to a handle and be pulled through the water mud and other things collected in the calf-deep marsh. Logan watched how the locals did it and the trick was to keep your upper body as far above the waterline as possible to avoid getting mouthfuls of the dirty water.

“I got this,” he laughed and took off his shoes and socks.

Tian failed to make it the 100 yards to the end without letting go and had to wait at the end of the line and Millie and Chuck had just arrived, so Logan was next to go. At the last second, he decided to spare his shirt the mud and tugged it off over his head.

“Holy hell,” a woman said, and Veronica whipped around expecting it to be Tian, but it was Millie.

“Did I say that out loud?” she blushed furiously.

“He is very pretty,” Veronica laughed.

Logan jogged down from the small wooden dock to the water, it was warm and squishy and gross, but he took the challenge and it was time to do it.

The handle was wooden and thick, Logan’s large hands were able to grab it easily, but he could understand why Tian had failed on her first go. He got down on his knees and held on. The locals gave him some advice and he closed his eyes tight, arched his back and held his upper body as high as he could, and they were off. 

The bulls moved fast, and Logan was skimming through the water, mud and gunk flying everywhere. He managed not to ingest any though. He made it to the end and when the finish flag flew, he hopped up easily, excited and high-fived his team.

There were towels and giant bowls of water to wash up with and Veronica was at the ready when he jogged back to the dock and pulled himself up with his arms as Tian got ready on the steps to take her second try.

“Loop your arm around the handle, you will never hold on to it with your hands,” Logan advised.

“Thanks,” Tian nodded, trying to keep her eyes on his face.

“Good job, dude,” Veronica handed him the towel to start cleaning up.

“I have mud in places I do not even want to imagine,” he shuddered.

Once he washed up a little and changed his shorts, they were handed their next clue.

“Detour,” Veronica read while Logan put his shoes and socks back on, “Baskets or Trunks. In baskets we catch 10 live chickens and put them in baskets and bike them over to a chicken house. Trunks is we bundle 2 bolts of cloth to elephants and ride it to the tailor. Elephants, Logan!”

“Elephants are terrible slow,” he said as they walked to the taxi to take them to the location of the detour. Tian had finished her challenge thanks to Logan’s advice, and they were right behind.

“But elephants!” Veronica argued.

“We can do the elephants if you want, but I can assure you, riding an elephant is not as fun as it looks, they are slow and have very hard spines.”

“Is this more insider info from your work?” she whispered, and he laughed.

“No, this is a not-so-fond childhood memory of a trip to Thailand while my father was making that ‘Apocalypse Now’ wanna be many years ago. He arranged for an elephant ride as a ‘treat’,” Logan used air quotes, “Trina claimed she had heat exhaustion and got out of it and my mother was too drunk to get on the elephant so my father claimed she had heat exhaustion too. Turned in to a father/son thing and well, you know how well those usually went,” Logan picked at the pocket on his cargo shorts.

“OK, no elephants, but can I maybe go and pet one?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

“I love you,” he kissed her temple.

The elephants were all there as they were the first team to arrive and Veronica went around and greeted each one and petted their trunks and marveled at their size and quiet nature. 

Logan scoped out their bike, trying them all and getting one with the best chain. The bike was actually a tricycle with a wagon attached at the back, it had two large covered baskets in it. Veronica joined him and he proposed a plan.

“I can pull the 2 baskets and you; you don’t have to bike.”

“That’s not fair,” she frowned.

“It’ll make us more efficient and make it easier to get through traffic.”

“Is it OK?”

“Yeah, I cleared it with the powers that be,” Logan smiled at how much Veronica was following the rules on this trip, not her usual MO.

“So, I ride in the back with the chickens?” 

“Yes, and read the map,” he nodded.

“OK,” she shrugged, “let’s go catch some chickens.”

Catching chickens was not as easy as it sounded, and Logan and Veronica ran around in circles trying to corral the birds. At one point, Veronica was laughing so hard she had to double-over to catch her breath.

In the beginning, they would get one chicken in the basket and another would hop out. While they were fighting with chickens, Tian & Jaree and Chuck & Millie arrived and opted for the elephants, they were loaded up and gone.

Logan and Veronica finally got the rhythm right and after a time they had all 10 chickens tucked away. Logan helped Veronica up into the wagon and she found a safe spot to sit between the baskets.

“I feel like a child,” she noted.

“Embrace it. And if nothing else you will get to ogle my butt for a while,” he smirked.

“It is one of my favorite pastimes,” she agreed.

Logan had no trouble managing the bike or the load in the back including his diminutive girlfriend.

The day was still hot and Logan sweat through his tee shirt, the gray fabric darker down the middle of his back and Veronica was so entranced by the movement of his body that she almost missed one of their turns on the map. She found a way to focus and soon enough they were at the chicken house.

Veronica helped unload the chickens, trying not to think about what was going to become of them, and happily accepted their clue.

“Get yourself to the Finishing Point, that is in quotes.”

Logan turned back and asked the chicken farmer what the finishing point was, and it turned out to be on a nearby lake, the finishing point for the annual boat races.

“Only about 10 minutes from here, let’s grab a tuk-tuk,” Logan said as he moved towards the main road.

“A what?” Veronica followed.

“A little motorized minicab thing,” he said as he waved one down.

It was cozy in the back with their gear, but they fit and then they were off. The tuk-tuk could move through traffic better than a full-sized cab and that was good because it was rush hour and even the smaller city of Alleppey was crowded. 

When they got to the lake Veronica was awed by how beautiful it was. After a couple days of cities and rundown countryside from the window of the train, this spot was bucolic and peaceful.

They got to the check-in point, hand-in-hand with smiles on their faces.

“You look good for the journey you’ve made the past few days,” Mark greeted them.

“It has been an adventure,” Veronica smiled.

“You are the first team to arrive,” Mark noted, and Veronica looked surprised.

“Tian, Jaree, Chuck and Millie all left the detour site ahead of us. Are they OK?” Veronica was worried now.

“They are fine, elephants are notoriously slow,” Mark mentioned, and Logan nodded along.

“I have heard that somewhere,” Veronica put a finger other chin in ponderance.

“As the winners of this leg you get the pick of accommodations tonight.”

“Tents again?” Veronica assumed based on the grounds around them.

“Turn around,” Mark suggested.

There bobbing in the water were over 20 houseboats.

TBC…


	9. The One With a Bunch of Boats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our time in India is coming to a close, but our next spot has a beach!

The houseboats bobbed lazily on the lake, the sun setting behind them.

“Showers are outside,” Mark said looking at Logan, “I have a feeling you need one.”

“Very very much,” Logan nodded.

“Follow the signs, get cleaned up and dinner will be under that big tent,” Mark pointed down the shore of the lake a bit.

“Sounds great,” Veronica smiled and followed Logan towards the furthest of the houseboats.

“We’ll only have neighbors on one side,” he justified the walk.

There were rowboats on the shore and Logan piled in their gear and Veronica and dragged the boat into enough water to support his added weight and hopped in with ease.

“It actually is not surprising you wound up in the Navy,” Veronica mentioned as he rowed them towards their lodging for the night.

“Oh?” he smiled at her.

“You have always loved boats and been really comfortable around water,” she observed.

“I love water, it is so relaxing. The ocean has always felt like home, it reminds me how truly insignificant I am.”

“You are not insignificant,” Veronica frowned.

“To you I am not insignificant, to the universe? Pretty insignificant and that is OK. It helps me realize my problems are all relative to the problems of the world around me. I needed help with that when I was younger,” he pulled them along side the houseboat and tied up the rowboat.

Logan stood with natural grace, barely rocking the boat and climbed the short ladder on to the houseboat. He leaned over and took the bags from Veronica before helping her up the ladder as well.

“We better not drink too much at dinner, we might end up sleeping with the fishes,” Veronica laughed as she peered over the edge and saw some fish swim by.

The houseboat was spare but clean and smelled of wood polish and fresh cotton sheets. There was a good size bed, just one Veronica noted and wondered if everyone was bunking up tonight, and a small desk. There was an actual closet and a water closet with a camp toilet and a small sink and some towels.

The cabin was covered and had walls on 3 sides, but it was open to the deck with just some mosquito netting to pull closed. Birdsong sounded all around them.

“This is gorgeous,” Veronica said in awe.

“It is pretty spectacular,” Logan agreed as he unpacked his shower kit and a clean pair of shorts.

Veronica got her shower stuff and a change of clothes as well and they were soon back rowing to shore for showers.

The outdoor showers were really outdoors with canvas tarping separating stalls and providing decent enough privacy. Logan really did not care, if there was no shower, he was going to go skinny dipping to get the mud out of his toes and other places. Veronica was less concerned with modesty and more concerned with spiders, but she looked real good before stripping down and soaping up.

Logan was standing by the rowboat, clean and shirtless when she emerged still wringing out her hair.

“Hey, Sailor, give a girl a ride?” she asked with a smile.

He just raised her eyebrows at her and chuckled.

“In the boat!” she said flustered, “a boat ride to the other boat.”

“After 20 years of knowing me, you should know better than to throw me such a softball,” he leaned in and nibbled her freshly washed skin, “mmmm, lavender.”

“I will be expecting that other ride, later,” she tugged his chin to get his lips where she could kiss him properly.

“Gah! Sickening,” a voice behind them laughed and Veronica turned to see Monica and Cherie making fun of them.

“If this bothers you, it is a good thing you didn’t swing by our train bunks a few minutes earlier,” Veronica winked, and the 2 women cackled.

“Girl, you get it where you can with a man that looks like that,” Monica pointed her finger up and down the length of Logan who just ducked his chin and blushed.

The other teams were filing in now, half of each team covered in mud. Everyone got their showers and soon a crowd was gathering under the dinner tent. Meat was being cooked over open wood fires and the whole tent smelled like spice and grilled meat.

“My mouth is literally watering,” Veronica looked over at the men tending the fires as Logan shared an Indian beer with her.

“It does smell good,” he agreed as Chip & Reichen joined them at a table.

“This place is amazing,” Chip smiled and sipped his own beer.

“Not a bad place to celebrate,” Reichen agreed.

“Is it someone’s birthday? Is there cake?” Veronica looked around.

“No one’s birthday,” Chip laughed at her excitement over potential baked goods, “it’s our…wedding anniversary,” he said hesitantly.

“Really? That is amazing, congratulations,” Logan reached out to shake their hands and the two men visibly relaxed.

“We haven’t really talked about being a couple, not sure how everyone would react,” Reichen admitted.

“Fuck that,” Veronica scoffed, “love is hard, you love someone you celebrate it. Often with cake,” she added.

“Well, not everyone thinks like that,” Reichen looked at Logan.

“I’m cool man, I’ve witnessed enough awful Hollywood marriages to know straight people do not have any right to claim marriage. I’m with Veronica, love is love.”

“Not always the viewpoint of the military,” Reichen noted.

“It’s changing, but yeah it can be rough,” Logan nodded, “did you serve?”

Reichen definitely looked like military.

“Air Force,” he nodded.

“You fly?” Logan’s eyes lit up and soon enough he and Reichen were talking planes.

“Why don’t you and I go see about cake?” Veronica took Chip’s hand and they left their other halves to talk shop.

Veronica told Mark about Chip & Reichen’s anniversary and while there was not an actual cake, there was dessert and plenty of sparkling wine for a toast.

“You want to celebrate with everyone?” Veronica asked.

“I do, it’s our first wedding anniversary and it should be special,” Chip admitted, and Veronica squeezed his arm.

So, when dinner was winding down and dessert was being presented, Veronica went around and delivered sparkling wine to everyone.

Chip stood up and got everyone’s attention, “I just wanted to let everyone know that Reichen and I got married one year ago today, it’s our anniversary and we aren’t at home with our family, but you guys have become like family this past week or so.”

Reichen took over, “we are having an incredible time with all of you and we thought you might like to join us in a toast to our anniversary,” he held up his glass and everyone oooed and aaaahed and cheered.

Everyone came up to hug the two guys and congratulate them, some giving advice on marriage, others asking for it.

“We should do this for our anniversary,” Logan said as he swallowed the last of his sparkling wine.

Veronica wrinkled her nose, “I am not sure wrangling eels is what I want to do on our anniversary.”

“Oh, what would you like to do on our anniversary?”

“Take me back to the houseboat and I will gladly demonstrate,” Veronica finished her drink, gave Chip & Reichen another hug and headed out of the tent.

***555***  
Bright and early the next morning, Logan and Veronica were back in the tent having coffee and oatmeal and awaiting their next clue.

“I’ve really liked India,” Veronica said.

“I’m glad, I have a special place in my heart for Mumbai, the people have been good to me there,” Logan said cryptically.

“The Mission Impossible jokes are funny, but will I ever really get to know what your work entails?”

“Not much of it, I’m afraid, but know that I use my brain a whole lot more than I use my body,” he kissed her temple.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Mark approached with a clue in hand, “but here is your clue, you get a 30 minute head start on the others, although in this case I don’t think it will help much,” he said cryptically.

“We are flying somewhere,” Veronica said as she opened the clue.

“Fly to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and proceed to the Monsopiad Cultural Village,” she said with wide eyes, “Malaysia?!”

“Let’s get to the airport,” Logan finished his coffee and stood up to shoulder his pack.

The nearest airport was in Cochin and was quite small, but from there they got a flight to Mumbai. In Mumbai they had to decide between flying through Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. 

“Singapore is a gorgeous airport, but we’ll be behind the other teams,” Logan noted.

“Let’s take the faster route, we can see Singapore someday,” Veronica agreed as other teams arrived and started booking seats.

“You have certainly gotten the travel bug,” Logan smiled.

“I am starting to see the appeal of your money,” she snarked, but patted his hand.

“I can’t wait to take you to some of my favorite places,” he kissed her softly as their tickets printed.

Eight of the teams wound up on the flight to Kuala Lumpur and in the ensuing layover they made a little makeshift camp on the floor and caught some extra sleep.

After the final flight, Logan and Veronica hopped in a cab and made their way to Monsopiad Cultural Village. Once through the gates they had to receive a traditional Malaysian blessing.

An elderly woman in traditional clothes dipped a switch of leaves in water and shook the water on Logan and then Veronica as she chanted in her native language. Logan reached his hand over and linked his fingers with Veronica’s not daring to look at her and break the spell.

The old woman smiled and bowed when she was done and Veronica said, “thank you” with a suspiciously thick voice.

Chuck and Millie were waiting so Logan and Veronica stepped away but not too far.

“That was amazing,” she said with shining eyes.

“Yeah,” he brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead.

“It feels like we just got married,” she whispered.

“I love you,” he kissed her again and then lead her out of the park to get their clue. 

“Go to the Kota Kinabalu boat jetty and take the marked boats to the flagged fishing trawler,” Logan read, and they got back in their waiting taxi.

The day was getting warmer by the minute and Veronica stripped off her long-sleeve tee shirt to just her tank top and shorts. Logan gave her a playful leer.

“We’re not at the cultural center anymore, this is perfectly appropriate for boating,” she nudged his bare knee.

“I am just happy to be in warm weather,” he smiled.

“That snow and rain in Europe offend your Cali boy sensibilities?”

“I enjoyed playing in the snow with you,” he admitted.

“It was certainly new for us together, I only ever experienced snow those years in New York.”

“During the 9 years of radio silence,” he nodded.

The boat jetty was bustling and soon they found marked motorboats with drivers. Logan hopped onboard and then reached up to help Veronica into the boat as well, they sat at the back of the boat and enjoyed the view as they motored out into the bay.

The marked fishing trawler had clues taped all around it on the outside, the small motorboat pulled up as close as it could and Logan reached over the side and snagged a clue easily. Veronica held on to his back pocket, not so much to keep him in the boat, he surely would’ve pulled her over with him if he fell, but more to just squeeze his butt.

Logan plopped back into his seat as Veronica opened the clue.

“Detour, Net or Trap,” she read, “oh goodie, more fish! In Net we have to catch 15 fish from a farm with long-handled nets and in Trap we have to pull up a lobster trap with our clue in it. I guess we should do Net,” Veronica said.

“Nah, Trap will be much faster,” Logan disagreed.

“But lobster will kill you,” she reminded him.

“Only if I eat it, if we are just pulling up a trap, I am sure I will be fine. Please take us to the lobster boat,” Logan instructed the driver of the boat.

“You sure?” Veronica confirmed.

“Absolutely, I have to demonstrate my brute strength every few days or I worry you’ll leave me,” he teased.

“Yeah, you seem super concerned after I asked you to marry me and all,” she scoffed, and he leaned in and kissed her again.

“That wasn’t a dream?” he asked and she shook her head, he kissed her again.

“You are awfully kissy today,” she said but then snuck one more kiss while they were still close.

“Complaining?”

“Not really,” she admitted.

The lobster boat was much larger than their little motorboat and Logan had to stretch to make it to the ladder. He leaned over the side and gave Veronica his arm to hang on to and he just hoisted her over the railing like she weighed nothing.

“This might be the easier task,” Veronica noted as she got her feet on the slick deck.

“Lobster traps are hard to haul, all that water working against your efforts,” he said.

“Right. So how do we do this?”

“Gloves on, so as not to hurt the pretty hands,” he said as he donned a pair of gloves, “you should wear them too,” he winked.

She elbowed him in the side, and he feigned injury and handed over a pair of thick work gloves for her as well. The ropes were frayed and if they lost control, rope burn was no joke.

“OK, you’ll stand behind me and take up the slack. Lean back on your heels until I tell you to stand up straight, you’ll be anchor weight, but once the trap clears the water I don’t want you to fall,” Logan thought out the physics of the whole thing.

Veronica nodded and stood waiting for the rope. Logan untied the trap rope from the railing of the lobster boat and begin to pull, the first few yards of rope he tied around his elbow and shoulder and leaned back with great force.

Veronica was mesmerized by how strong he was. Sure, he carried all the heavy groceries and lugged things out of their storage unit and on more than one occasion carried her, usually towards a bed, but this was serious hard work.

“OK, take this,” he unwound some slack and put the fresh wet rope around his arm.

Veronica held on to the rope as tightly as she could, it was wet and slippery, but her gloves gave her some traction. She leaned back as Logan had instructed and the pull of the rope kept her upright even though all her body weight was leaning backwards.

“Good job, V, that helps a lot.”

To a casual observer, it would seem Logan was doing all the work and he was doing plenty, but Veronica was giving it every once of her strength not to let that rope go. Logan kept working and feeding her more slack and finally he said, “I can see it, get ready to stand up.”

A couple more tugs on the rope and the trap broke the surface of the water.

“OK, stand up Veronica,” Logan said, and when she did the tension in the rope instantly slackened, she surely would have fallen on her ass if he had been off by even a second.

Logan could reach the clue without touching any of the lobsters that squirmed around inside the trap. He hooked the trap to the side of the boat so the lobstermen could collect their haul. They thanked Veronica and Logan for their hard work and Logan lowered Veronica back to the motorboat.

When he was also on board, he ripped the clue open and read the route marker, “Proceed to Manukan Island.”

“Ok,” the driver of the boat nodded, “about 30 minutes.”

“Perfect,” Logan said as he stretched out and wrapped an arm around Veronica, “time to sit back and enjoy the scenery.”

Logan could see Chip & Reichen haul up their lobster trap on another boat as they motored past, he waved, and the two men waved back.

When their boat docked at Manukan island, Logan thanked the driver and hopped on to the pier, taking both bags from Veronica who came up behind him.

“This is gorgeous,” she said as they looked at the turquoise water and the white sand beaches of Borneo.

“It certainly is, hope we get to spend some beach time here.”

At the end of the pier was a clue box and Veronica read the clue.

“Roadblock: whose skills are the most on target?”

“Well that is a toss-up really,” Logan laughed.

“I’ll do it, you got dragged through mud yesterday,” Veronica offered.

“Fine by me,” Logan smiled.

Veronica flipped the clue over and saw she had to use 3 traditional Malaysian weapons and hit 3 targets. As Veronica was getting ready, Chip & Reichen and Millie & Chuck arrived. Reichen and Chuck opted to do the roadblock. So, it was 2 big guys and Veronica going head-to-head.

“You got this, babe,” Logan cheered as Veronica loaded an arrow on to a traditional bow.

“Remember that time I went to sleep away camp the summer after eighth grade?” she shouted back.

“Yeah?” Logan replied.

“I won a blue ribbon in archery,” she said as she aimed at the hanging wooden target, pulled the bow back and hit on the first try.

“That is my very hot girlfriend, ladies and gentlemen,” Logan bragged as they moved to the second target.

When Veronica had read blow dart, she expected a small tube with an arrow in it like in movies, but this tube was nearly six feet long.

“This is going to be a little trickier,” she admitted.

“Honey, I don’t want to brag about how well you….”

“Don’t say it,” she laughed as she shouldered the giant tube.

A crew member loaded up the dart and the first one went about 2 feet before falling to the sand.

“Ok, you are getting he hang of it,” Logan cheered. Reichen & Chuck were still trying to hit the target with the bow and arrow.

It took Veronica 5 tries to get even near the target, now she was working on aim. Reichen had joined her by then and he did a little better on his first few tries. Finally, on her 7th attempt Veronica got her aim and velocity exactly right and pierced the arrow into the hanging slice of watermelon that had served as her target.

“Nice!” Reichen cheered as he hit his next.

Chuck was still trying to get the bow and arrow right, but Reichen and Veronica moved on to the final weapon, an exceptionally long spear.

Chip & Logan watched as their partners attempted to throw this giant spear that was longer than Reichen was tall and close to twice as long as Veronica was tall.

“This is nuts,” she laughed as she dropped the weapon and shook out her arms.

“Remember track and field days at school?” Logan asked.

“I always skipped those days, Lily and I would tan by the pool,” Veronica sighed at her lack of foresight for javelin skills.

“You have to run and throw,” Logan instructed, “watch Reichen.”

Sure enough, Reichen took a few running steps and hurled the spear, while he missed the target, he did get it close enough to bounce off.

Veronica, replicated the run and throw and got much closer than her previous attempts.

“I am not actually sure I can do this,” Veronica lamented as Reichen’s next throw hit the target.

He & Chip were off to the Pit Stop in first place. Chuck was now at the blow dart target on her heels.

“Veronica, I have seen you do much harder things than this. You can do this,” Logan said calmly but encouragingly. 

She was sweating, her hair escaping her ponytail and sticking to her neck, sand sticking to her feet and legs. She wiped sweat off her face with her tank top, giving Logan a tantalizing view of her bare stomach.

“You do this, and we can go swimming in that gorgeous water,” Logan offered.

Veronica wet her lips and backed up as far as she could without being in range of Chuck and his blow dart and ran with all her might, when she got to the mark that indicated she couldn’t get any closer she let the spear fly right dead center of the target. She jumped up in the air like she kicked a Super Bowl winning field goal. Logan tackled her to the sand and kissed her senseless for a quick minute and then hopped up and helped her to her feet.

“You still have to check in,” the staff person smiled at them, both sweaty and covered in sand now.

“Right,” Veronica nodded and took the clue.

“Proceed to the Pit Stop, thank god,” she read, and Logan pointed further down the beach where flags and tents stood.

“Good job, Veronica,” Millie gave her a high-five as Chuck made it to the final target.

“Thanks,” she smiled, proud of herself.

Logan carried both packs and they made their way down the beach to Mark and the crew.

“Welcome to the Pit Stop, Logan and Veronica, you are the 2nd team to arrive,” Mark said as Chip and Reichen emerged from a tent in bathing suits with beers in hand.

“You did it!” Reichen ran over and tackle hugged Veronica.

“The woman can do anything,” Logan assured, and Veronica smiled at him.

“We do have hotel rooms for the night, but we are here on the beach through dinner, so feel free to change into your swimsuits, stow your gear and grab a snack and drink and enjoy the beach. Barbecue around 7,” Mark informed, and Veronica nodded along, liking everything he suggested.

“There are beach toys, snorkel gear, floats etc. at your disposal, enjoy!”

Logan patted Mark on the back as they headed to the big tent. Inside there were cubbies for their stuff and changing rooms and big tables of food and drinks. For the moment, they were alone.

“Hotel tonight,” Logan noted as he reached for her.

She went into his arms despite her sweaty sandy body.

“Yeah and after your brute force display of strength earlier…” she looked up at him through her lashes.

“And your display of weaponry and perseverance,” he played along.

“You want me as bad as I want you?” she smiled coyly.

He just nodded.

“You are on, but right now I want to be in that ocean with a beer in my hands,” she kissed him good and hard, a promise for later and went to the changing room.

Veronica had packed 2 bathing suits for the trip: a sensible red one piece that Logan referred to as her “Baywatch” suit in case she had to do any actual swimming and a teeny tiny black one that Logan had not seen yet. When they swam at the pool at the lodge in Italy, she wore the red one, but today on a gorgeous beach in Malaysia it was time for the little one.

Logan was at the snack table, eating a banana when she came over to him, she had slipped a tee shirt on over the bikini and slid her feet into some flip flops.

“Ready?” she asked.

“You should eat something salty, get your electrolytes back up,” Logan suggested and handed her some pretzels.

“No need to tell me twice,” she smirked and tore the bag open.

She followed up with a banana and a big bottle of water before grabbing a beer for the beach. Logan had their towels draped over his shoulder and their bags were neatly tucked away. He led her back out into the sunlight and they headed for the water, there was no sign of Chuck & Millie yet.

Reichen & Chip had left their flip flops and tee shirts near the water’s edge and Logan added their stuff to the sand, tugging his shirt off and shuffling out of his sandals.

“Hold this?” Veronica gave him her beer and she reached down with both hands to take the shirt off, leaving her in a bikini, her hair disheveled around her face.

“Well, now, that is not the red one,” Logan said with a grin.

“This one is just for you,” she took her beer back and took a long sip, Logan’s eyes fixed to the stretch of her neck and the curve of her waist.

“Sunscreen?” she asked innocently as she handed him a bottle of SPF 50.

Logan did the right thing and applied the sunscreen properly, although his hands really wanted to be in different places. She returned the favor, rubbing sunscreen along the hard planes of his chest and leaning in to get his ears and neck properly before teasing along his back. She kissed right between his shoulder blades and he moaned.

“We need to get in that water now, before I forget any and all public decency rules,” he growled in her ear. She dropped the bottle of sunscreen with their stuff and handed him back her beer.

Logan looked at the beer in confusion as Veronica strode down to the, water walking until it was up to her knees and dove in. She emerged a few feet out, her hair slicked back and a huge smile on her face.

Logan just laughed at her as she paddled about on her back, Chip & Reichen nearby. He made his way into the water, which was the perfect temperature, cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough to walk right into. Veronica was not out very deep, so Logan could walk the whole way.

She took both beers from him so her could dunk himself and rinse off the sweat and sand of the day. He popped up and shook his head sprinkling her with water.

“That is not nearly as obnoxious now that you have military hair,” she handed him back the beer and the 4 of them floated lazily in the sun.

TBC…


	10. Almost Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prize worth sweating over!

An afternoon on the beach was exactly what Logan and Veronica needed. They floated around in the ocean, tried a paddleboard, which Logan excelled at and Veronica did not, they stretched out on their towels under the shade of a palm and took a power nap and they mingled with the other teams.

Everyone seemed more relaxed, the beach vibe making almost everyone a little more mellow.

“You kicked ass at that challenge,” Millie said with a slight slur as she dropped into the sand next to Veronica.

“Thanks,” Veronica smiled proudly.

“I shouldn’t tell you this, but Chuck is a little embarrassed he got beat by a girl,” Millie was whispering very loudly.

Logan laughed.

“I am trained to carry a gun,” Veronica noted.

“But that spear was bigger than you, by a lot,” Millie held her arms out to illustrate.

“True,” Veronica nodded.

“Face it, Veronica, you are kick ass,” Logan said as he raised his beer to clink with her and Millie.

“Volleyball, who’s in?” one of the other California guys approached.

“Sure,” Logan nodded and moved to stand, stretching his torso out in the process.

“Shirtless volleyball is one of the things Logan has a medal for from the Navy,” Veronica teased.

“Really?” Millie asked, her eyes glued to Logan’s back as he walked towards the net.

Veronica just bobbed her eyebrows.

“You have such an exciting life, it’s so different from mine,” Millie sighed.

“It is not always great, the excitement I mean, I am coming to really enjoy this low stress and relaxed side of life,” Veronica admitted as she sieved sand through her fingers.

“My life is pretty dull, but I am definitely going to change a few things when I get home.”

“Yeah?” Veronica was intrigued.

“I want to take a self-defense class, maybe learn how to kayak or something,” Millie shrugged.

“Every woman should take a self-defense class,” Veronica nodded in agreement, “I could use a hobby or two that aren’t work and Logan.”

“What do you do when he is deployed?”

“Work twice as much.”

“Well, that’s no good,” Millie frowned, “you should learn to knit or something.”

“Not much cause for knitted goods in Southern California,” Veronica countered.

“You could make baby stuff; didn’t you say a friend is having a baby?”

“Yeah, she is,” Veronica tried to picture herself knitting, but it was too absurd an image.

Chuck joined them then and brought Millie a bag of chips and some water.

“Thanks, babe,” she smiled at Chuck who barely smiled back, he seemed like an emotionless guy.

“No volleyball for you?” Veronica asked.

“Nah, not my thing,” he said and headed back up towards the tent.

“Is he not having a good time?” Veronica asked Millie.

“We’ve been fighting,” Millie admitted.

Veronica of course knew this from the more than one occasion she had overheard them.

“Everyone is over-tired on this trip, there is no possible way to get over the jetlag,” Veronica made excuses.

“You & Logan aren’t fighting, every time I look at you, you seem more in love with each other,” Millie picked at the label on her beer bottle.

“Logan & I fight plenty, but it is usually about our jobs, being away from all that helps,” Veronica said honestly.

“Well, I bet your fights have some pretty good make-ups,” Millie sighed again.

“Yeah, they do,” Veronica said, but she wasn’t bragging she was sincere as she looked past Millie to see Logan lining up to serve, even from across the beach he caught her glance and winked.

***555***  
Dinner was an amazing barbecue on the beach with tons of tropical fruit and sweet and spicy meat and cold noodle salads. Veronica could not get enough of the food.

“Maybe here for the honeymoon,” she said casually as she speared a piece of guava from Logan’s plate.

He just smiled and nodded.

Sunset was amazing and all the teams took turns taking pictures for each other and got one of the crew to take a picture of all of them with a camera from every team. It was an exercise in patience, but everyone was happy with the gorgeous pictures they got.

Once the sun was down twinkly lights went on all around them, wound around palm trees and the tents and cabanas that were set up. Speakers started playing some Caribbean-style beach music, not too fast and not too slow, perfect to bob your head to or as Logan insisted, dance to. Everyone danced and sang along when Bob Marley hit the rotation.

Veronica leaned into Logan’s ear and sang sweetly, “don’t worry, about a thing…cuz every little thing’s gonna be alright…”

Logan turned his face towards hers and kissed her softly, ran his fingers over her hair that was a beachy mess of salt water, sand and sweat, tucked it behind her ear and felt her pulse speed up just a bit along her neck.

When Veronica thought she could not possibly deal with being in public one minute longer, Mark announced the first shuttle over to the hotel. Teams could shuttle based on their finish place or stay longer and give up their seat to another team.

“You want to stay?” Logan asked, his voice low and deep.

“No,” it was barely a whisper, barely a breath, he felt it against his skin more than he heard it.

“Ok,” he whispered back, he squeezed her hand and then went to get their bags.

The shuttle to the hotel was only 10 minutes, but it was a long ten minutes for Veronica. Their keys were all ready for them when they got there and the 4 teams with them all rode in one elevator that seemed exceptionally slow.

The room was small, but clean and Logan dropped their bags by the door before Veronica launched herself at him. Logan caught her easily, kissing her and tugging at the straps of her bikini that was still on under her sundress. He moved towards the bed and she tore her mouth away.

“We are too gross for the bed,” she instructed.

When he turned with her in his arms, he saw they were looking out over the ocean, the full moon glittering against the midnight blue water. He walked her back to the dresser that sat at the perfect height and he tugged her dress up before he set her down, she obligingly pulled the dress off, her bikini top following easily due to his efforts earlier at untying it.

Veronica watched as he stripped off his own clothes and then she shimmied out of the bikini bottom. He was inside her with little warning, but it was fine with Veronica, she had been ready for him for hours. Their skin was tacky from the sweat and the sea, but Logan smelled like the ocean and it was overwhelming all of Veronica’s senses as he moved inside her.

“Look,” he instructed as he leaned her back against the dresser, she tilted her head back to see the same view he was enjoying, but when she arched like that he was much more invested in the view of her.

“Fuck, Veronica,” he ground out as the shift in her position upped the friction as well.

“I could do this all night,” Veronica said with a soft moan when he slid a hand to cup her breast.

“Well, I cannot so…mmmmm,” he growled as she squeezed him and then giggled.

“Minx,” he managed between long sighs of pleasure.

Veronica sat up, her body languid and supple, Logan wanted to touch her everywhere at once.

“Touch me,” she read his mind, but he knew she meant one specific spot, so he did and she shuddered around him silently, her body hot and wet and soft and he was drowning in her.

He came hard enough to rock the dresser back on its hind legs, and she yelped a bit in glee.

“Oops,” he smirked before he kissed her.

“Minx,” she tossed back before licking along his salty neck.

Logan shrugged his agreement with the term and lifted her carefully, her thighs sticking to the dresser, and moved her to the bathroom. One long hot shower later and Veronica slipped into bed as Logan cleaned up the dresser and laid out their clothes for the morning.

He turned off the lights and joined Veronica in bed, her eyes heavy and her breathing slow, but she was still awake and when he turned to her she pulled him on top and kissed him deeply, running her feet up over the backs of his legs, pressing herself against him.

This time was slow and so sweet it nearly made her teeth ache, but Veronica felt something different, she felt something more than she had ever felt and she did not think that was possible. Veronica had always believed she gave Logan everything she could, more than she ever shared with anyone else, even her dad. This trip was showing her that wasn’t true, there was always more, there was always something deeper when you loved like they love.

The thought escaped her body in a gasp and a tear and Logan didn’t stop, didn’t question the emotion, just swiped at the tear with his thumb, kissed where it had been and kept loving her.

***555***  
The next morning Veronica and Logan were waiting with the other teams for their clue, Chip & Reichen had gotten the head start. The ceiling fans in the hotel breakfast room were barely keeping the heat of the day at bay and it was only 6 am.

Their clue sent them back by boat to Kota Kinabalu boat jetty where they needed to take a Taxi to Poring Hot Springs. The taxi ride was out of the downtown area and soon the taxi stopped in traffic as a herd of cows took up the road, some of them just laying down in the street.

“Does this happen a lot?” Logan asked the cab driver.

“Every day,” he responded with a smile.

One of the cabbies ahead of them got out and started shooing the large animals.

“Whoever is first has to do that,” the driver advised.

“They’re kind of like spring breakers in Neptune,” Veronica laughed.

It was just after 7:30 when they got to the springs and the heat was close to oppressive, luckily the tree canopy provided some shade as Logan spotted the clue box at the same time as Monica and Cherie arrived.

“Oh my,” Logan said ominously.

“What?” all 3 women said at once and he just pointed.

The clue box was far away and the only way to get there were some rope bridges high over the hot springs.

Veronica had already conquered this kind of fear in Italy, but Monica and Cherie had chosen the other challenge that day.

“I cannot do that,” Monica said definitively.

“You can,” Veronica assured her, “we’ll do it together.”

“Veronica will go first and we will space out so we don’t cause too many ripples, I’ll go last and keep an eye on you all,” Logan used his reassuring military voice and Monica and Cherie were nodding along, “you good with that?” he was asking all 3 but looking at Veronica and she nodded.

Veronica started out on the bridge, it had wooden slats spaced a step or so apart held together by ropes, there were rope handrails as well at hip height for Logan so higher for the women.

“It is a little wobbly,” Veronica shouted a warning, “but not terrible.”

Logan waited a bit and then encouraged Monica to go next and then Cherie, finally when they were all equal distances apart Logan stepped out on the bridge. He didn’t want to startle any of the women, but he hoped they had the nerve to look around, because the view was unbelievable.

Veronica got to the other side and turned to face the rest of them on the platform with the clue box. Monica pointed and Veronica looked up to see a gorgeous multi-colored bird in the tree behind her and smiled. The only noise was birdsong and the gurgle of the Springs below.

Monica made it across, and Veronica wordlessly hung an arm over her shoulders, and they shared a smile. Cherie looked terrified but she was still going, and Logan was hanging back to give her distance and not shake the rope bridge.

Monica and Veronica were silently cheering as Cherie made it close and when she stepped on to the platform all three of the women hugged and laughed like they had just swum across the English Channel.

“Don’t mind me, I’ll just hang out here on this bridge,” Logan feigned hurt.

“Come on Logan, you can do it!” Monica cheered and he laughed.

Logan made short work of the bridge and joined the women who were now reading the clue.

“There are cars waiting for us and we have to drive to the Trushidup Palm Oil Plantation,” Veronica informed.

“Do we have to cross back?” Cherie asked nervously.

“I think we go that way,” Logan pointed to a sign with the Global Challenge logo that said, ‘this way to parking lot’.

“Thank god,” she sighed, and the foursome headed off.

About halfway down the trail Cherie was wishing they could have taken the bridge.

“I thought it was hot in Atlanta,” she lamented.

“Yeah, we’re from Southern California, humidity is rare,” Veronica took a swig of water and pulled at her tank top that was sticking to her back.

“Hopefully, the cars have AC,” Logan agreed.

The cars had AC and GPS and soon they were on their way to the next challenge. At the plantation they were faced with a Detour.

“Chop or Haul,” Logan read, “We can use local tools to chop down palmnut bunches until we get one with a clue or we can lug 25 palm nut bunches over to a truck and toss them up on top,” he pointed to the trucks parked nearby.

“Those both sound awful,” Veronica frowned.

“Let’s try Chop, if I can’t get the hang of the saw we’ll change,” he suggested as a couple other teams arrived.

“OK,” Veronica shrugged, unsure how she could help.

Palm trees are tall, and the nuts were way at the top, so the local tool was a saw at the end of a long stick, it was fiddly, but not terribly hard.

The first couple bunches Logan got down did not have a clue though.

“Are you OK?” Veronica asked as he wiped his brow.

“Yeah,” he promised with a smile and started again.

In all the time he had spent, the other teams, including Chip & Reichen who had had the time advantage in the morning, had only managed to get half the bunches of palm nuts up on to their trucks, so Logan was still convinced he picked the right challenge. Veronica felt useless, other than holding Logan’s water and checking for clues, she wasn’t really doing anything.

The next bunch of palm nuts that Logan cut down had the clue and Veronica read it while Logan guzzled some water.

“Drive to Gomantong Caves,” she read with trepidation, “I don’t like caves,” she admitted.

“It will be cooler,” he offered.

“And dark and claustrophobic,” she said as they walked back to the car.

“I’ll do it, it has to be a Roadblock,” Logan reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

“You just did all of this,” she waved her arm around.

Logan just shrugged and they hopped in the car, cranking up the AC and setting up the GPS. Veronica tried not to think about why she had trouble with dark and closed in spaces, but they both knew it was Aaron.

“You OK?” he caught her eye before he pulled out of the lot.

“Yeah,” she nodded with a forced smile.

They drove in silence and got to the caves first. Veronica was happy to see a large opening into the caves that looked like it might not be too tight a squeeze.

The clue box was just inside, but Logan didn’t need the clue to see what the challenge was.

“Time for the ladder part of the challenge,” he read and they both looked at the very tall very rickety looking rattan ladders.

“I can do this, no sweat,” he assured her, and she nodded.

“I’ll do it,” Logan informed the crew and they took him to harness him up, Veronica hung back near the cave entrance where it wasn’t quite so dark.

Chip and Reichen arrived and Reichen agreed to do the Roadblock, but by the time he got his harness on Logan was halfway up. The climb wasn’t that hard, Logan had climbed higher and harder, but the cave was home to a lot of birds and bats and the ladder was covered in droppings making it slick. The gloves kept it from being completely gross.

When he got to the top the hardest part was ahead, he had to shimmy out on a platform to retrieve the clue dangling in a basket. This part would’ve been easier for someone small like Veronica, but he managed it and was soon on his way down before Reichen made it to the top.

Logan’s speed had less to do with winning and more to do with getting Veronica out of the cave, but it did seem that they had taken the lead. He took off the harness and jogged over to Veronica.

“Let’s read this out in the daylight,” he suggested, and she agreed happy to get out of the cave.

“Drive to the Pit Stop, the Sepilok Nature Resort,” Logan read.

“Thank you,” she squeezed his hand.

“You alright?” he looked concerned.

“I am, I am madder at myself for still panicking about silly things like this,” she looked at her hands and not at him as he got in the car and started it up.

“You almost died that night, if your dad hadn’t found you…” Logan stopped talking and threw the car in drive.

“I’ve never really talked about it,” she admitted.

Logan stayed silent, he had suggested she try therapy a thousand times, it usually ended in a fight and he didn’t want to fight.

“Isn’t this where you hand over Jane’s card?” her voice was not confrontational.

“You know I will support you whatever you want to do,” he said as he read the street signs and turned the right way.

Veronica didn’t say anything else, she just looked out the window the whole ride. When they got to the pit stop, she waited beside the car for Logan and reached out her hand.

“I want to be better for you,” she admitted.

“I love you Veronica. I want you to be better for you,” he kissed her forehead and she melted into his arms.

When they got to the mat, they were the first team to arrive.

“Welcome to Sepilok Nature Resort,” Mark said, “you are team number one and your prize for today is quite something, but before we get to that here are the logistics, we are staying here in the lodge, private rooms and access to the pool and dinner,” Mark went through all the details.

“You can check out your room and freshen up and Adam here is going to take you to your prize as soon as you are ready,” Mark continued enigmatically.

Veronica was stunned by the gorgeous land all around them and was very curious about their prize. They headed into the lodge and found their room, it was basic, but it had a nice bed and a clean bathroom that Veronica was happy to use.

When they were cleaned up a bit, Veronica grabbed her camera and the pair headed outside.

“Ready?” Adam said, his face full of glee.

“Yep,” Veronica nodded.

“We’re walking, about half a mile,” Adam informed as he headed out on a path.

They walked through tree canopy, full of birds and butterflies. Veronica imagined there were less beautiful things with many legs or none lurking as well, but she didn’t see anything scary on the walk. After a few minutes, Veronica saw a sign with what looked like a monkey on it.

“Monkeys!” she cried.

“Kind of,” Adam smiled back over his shoulder, “welcome to the Sepilok orangutan sanctuary,” he said as they came into a clearing full of the orange creatures hanging from trees and sitting around.

“Oh my god,” Veronica smiled broadly.

A Sepilok staff person greeted Adam, they clearly knew each other, and came over to meet Logan and Veronica.

“Welcome,” he said and bowed slightly.

Logan and Veronica said hello and returned the gesture.

“You are incredibly lucky today; you are here in time for feeding. Would you like to help?” he smiled as Veronica nodded enthusiastically.

Logan and Veronica were each given a basket full of local fruit and encouraged to move into the orangutans’ area. The creatures were curious and calm, ambling over to the humans and reaching up as if to say hello.

“Oh my God,” Veronica whispered as one put a very human-looking hand on her leg, “hi buddy. Can I touch them?”

The man just nodded, and Veronica reached out and took the hand of the orangutan and followed as it led her to a different part of the grounds. Veronica looked back at Logan who was using her camera to take pictures.

The orangutan led her to a much smaller orangutan.

“Is this your baby?” Veronica crouched down and took a piece of fruit from her basket, she handed it to the larger orangutan and it immediately handed it over to the baby.

Veronica dropped down to sit cross-legged on the ground and was soon surrounded by the curious animals, she turned back and waved Logan over. He handed the camera to Adam who agreed to take a few pictures and Logan joined her on the ground.

“Look at them,” Veronica cooed, “this is the best prize, thank you.”

“It was worth every drop of sweat today to see that look on your face,” Logan leaned over and kissed her.

“I want one, think Pony would get along with an orangutan?” she said as she rested her head on Logan’s shoulder and watched the animals around them.

“I don’t think orangutans live in Southern California,” Logan said logically.

“Yeah,” Veronica sighed.

The mother orangutan must have sensed Veronica was sad and came back over and patted her gently.

“They are so human,” she said as Logan reached out a finger and the orangutan grabbed on.

“They’re amazing,” Logan agreed.

They spent about a half hour with the animals and then headed back to the resort, changed into their swimsuits and took a refreshing swim in the large pool.

There were other teams around, but Logan swam over to a shady spot with some privacy and Veronica found him there.

“When we get home,” she started softly.

“Yeah?” he encouraged her to continue.

“Maybe not Jane, but someone.”

Logan nodded and held his arms open for her and she held him tightly.

TBC….


	11. It's Winter Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new continent brings some chilly conditions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who is tagging along on this adventure. I love everyone's comments so much. Hope everyone continues to be well!

“Logan!!!!!” her scream woke him out of a dead sleep, he flew out of the bed momentarily disoriented, where were they? Oh yeah, Borneo, vacation.

She wasn’t in his line of vision, which in this small resort accommodation meant she was in the bathroom. He made it across the room in 3 strides and saw her naked and frozen near the stall shower.

“What’s wrong?” he looked around for a masked killer and then he saw it. Spider. Big spider.

“OK, go back to bed, I got it,” he shielded her naked body with his.

“Don’t take your eyes off of it,” she kept staring at it.

“It’s not an attack spider,” he smiled.

“Need to know where it is at all times.”

“It’s not poisonous,” he tried to reassure her.

“All spiders are poisonous,” she countered.

“Fair. It is not poisonous enough to harm us.”

“How do you know?” she now slanted her eyes to him.

“I know, go back to bed. I’ll take care of it.”

“What if there is one in the bed?”

“I threw the blankets off when you screamed, you should be able to see anything,” Logan kept an eye on the spider as he tried to get Veronica out of the bathroom.

Veronica retreated to the bed and curled up in the middle of it as she heard Logan thrash around a bit in the bathroom. He emerged a few minutes later with the trash can stuffed with a towel and headed to the sliding door that lead to a small balcony. He tipped the trash can over and removed the towel before leaving it on the balcony to find its way home.

“You didn’t kill it?” Veronica gaped.

“Did you see it? That is not something you smoosh. That is a carcass. If I had my gun I could’ve shot it, but left to my own naked devices, that was my plan. It won’t get back in,” he shook out the blankets from the floor, joined her on the bed and coaxed her into his arms.

“I do OK, when you re away, killing bugs and stuff, but that,” she shuddered, and he kissed the top of her head.

“Yeah, that one was big,” he gently eased them down to a prone position and tried to find sleep again, they had a 6:00 am wake up call in a couple hours.

“The orangutans were so cute,” Veronica said in a small voice.

“Think about them and try to sleep,” he encouraged.

Just as he started to doze off, Veronica moved again, clearly not close to sleep. He rolled with her and held her close, tried to comfort her anxiety.

“Can we have sex?” she asked after a few more minutes, turning to face him.

“Sure,” he smiled sweetly and tucked her hair behind her ear, kissed her nose.

She sighed contentedly as he continued kissing across her cheek to nibble at her ear. Logan was tired, but there was no way he was turning down vacation sex.

Soon, Veronica relaxed under his lips and hands. She pressed him back against the mattress and threw her leg across to straddle him, looking down with so much love.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered as she stroked him.

“Love you,” she said when she joined their bodies together.

Veronica moved painfully slow, using all the muscles in her thighs to raise up as high as she could before taking him as deep as he could go.

“God, Veronica,” Logan blew out a breath.

“Good?” she grinned, and he just nodded, his eyes their darkest shade of brown, nearly black.

“Good,” she arched her back, trying to take more of him and suddenly she froze.

“What was that?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“What? Where?” Logan sat up.

“On my back,” Veronica looked terrified.

Logan looked.

“It’s just your hair, babe, when you leaned back you tickled yourself with your own hair,” Logan grinned.

Veronica dropped her forehead to his shoulder and laughed.

“Why don’t you let me finish this?” he asked as he flipped them around so she was on the mattress and he made quick work of finishing things properly.

***555***

As the first team on the last leg, Logan and Veronica got their clue early.

“Go to the Puu Jhi Shih Temple in Sandakan and find the Buddha with your names on it, use the key to unlock the rattan bag with your names on it,” Veronica read.

“Cab?” Logan hooked his thumb out the door.

“Yep,” Veronica said good-bye to Sepilok, thanking them for the orangutans and wishing she could have lived without the spider.

The sun was just coming up as they entered the temple, towering pillars and buddhas all around them.

“This is amazing,” Veronica whispered.

“I like everything I know about Buddhism,” Logan said as he looked around.

“Yeah?” it was the first Veronica had ever heard Logan say anything about religion, she didn’t even know how he was raised.

“It’s calm,” he shrugged.

“Yeah,” she nodded, that was all he had ever wanted, peace.

There was a very tall tower of small lit buddhas, compartments with names on them written on red tape, hundreds of them.

“You look low, I’ll look high?” Logan suggested and Veronica crouched down.

Veronica found their names easily, the English words standing out amongst all the Malaysian names. She got the key out of the compartment and Logan found their bag hanging on a pillar nearby.

“Fly to Seoul, South Korea and go to the Nam Sang Park, Seoul Tower,” Logan read.

“OK,” Veronica nodded, they each took a little more time admiring the temple and then headed outside.

There was a sign with the Global Challenge logo that read “Airport Transfer” so there they waited as the other teams arrived. Their shuttle came first though so they were the first team to the Kota Kinabalu airport.

“Looks like you are going to get the Singapore Airport experience after all,” Logan smiled as he looked at all the options the Malaysian Air rep gave him.

“Nice,” Veronica wrapped her arms around one of his and leaned into him, tired after her long and traumatic night in Borneo.

All the teams were on the same flight and they were all thrilled to have a 4-hour layover in Singapore. The airport was full of amenities, a salon, tons of shopping and lots of food choices.

“There is an American sports bar,” Dave mentioned.

“Burgers?” Veronica piped up; her eyes wide.

“I’m sure they have burgers,” Dave laughed.

Veronica looked at Logan pleadingly.

“Turn off the Bambi eyes, Mars. I’m up for a burger,” he laughed.

“Excellent, I will save the Bambi eyes for something else then,” she smacked his butt as they all headed to the sports bar.

Everyone wanted a burger and the waitress was amused by their excitement. There were also nachos and pitchers of beer to go around.

The teams swapped stories and Veronica showed everyone pictures of the orangutans.

“Were you OK last night?” Monica asked as she poured Veronica a beer.

“Huh?” Veronica was distracted by trying to build the perfect bite of nachos.

“I heard you yell Logan’s name last night and well, it didn’t sound like it was for fun reasons,” Monica raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, that,” Veronica nodded, “spider. Big spider.”

“Oh man, we saw some when we went out to walk around. The guide told us they weren’t dangerous, but they were creepy as fuck.”

“Logan caught it and put it outside,” Veronica beamed over at her man who was discussing the oddities of cricket with Chip as they watched the sport on the big screens around them.

“Men are good for a few things, worth keeping around,” Monica raised her beer and they toasted.

The flight to Seoul was bumpy, but Veronica caught a little sleep and it was 5:45 am when they tumbled off the plane on to the cold damp streets of South Korea.

“Winter again,” Veronica frowned as she pulled out her hat.

“I’ll keep you warm,” Logan promised as they found a cab driver who knew where they were going.

The Seoul Tower was quite a structure, but luckily the clue box was only on the 3rd level accessed by an exterior spiral staircase. Logan ran the stairs with practically no effort and met Veronica who was halfway up as he was coming back down.

“I got it,” he grinned.

“Take your cab to Gundam Valley, Rafting Korea, 50 miles away. A map is provided,” Logan looked at the map before sharing it with the driver.

The driver reviewed it, looked serious but nodded that he would take them.

“What was that all about?” Veronica asked.

“It is very close to the North Korean border,” Logan explained.

“Really?” Veronica’s eyes went wide.

“Not too close, but closer than I would have expected.

“Interesting,” Veronica said.

As they got closer to the destination they began seeing tanks and lines of armed soldiers lining the roads.

“This is crazy,” she whispered.

“Unlike anything we would see at home for sure.”

Their cab driver missed a turn and an armed soldier stopped the cab in the road, talked to the driver and allowed them to turn around.

“There is a stretch of neutral zone here, these are South Korean soldiers,” Logan explained.

“Is it OK that you are here?” Veronica worried about his work.

“I’ve never been here before,” is all he said, and Veronica nodded.

When they got to the challenge site there was ice and snow everywhere, Veronica had been right, it was winter again. Logan took the first clue out of the box as other teams arrived in their cabs.

“Roadblock,” he read, “who has the colder heart?” he smirked at her and instantly said, “I’ll do it.”

“Wait?” Veronica protested, “I definitely have the colder heart and you did the last one.” 

“I think I know what this is,” he said as he watched someone cutting a hole in the ice, “and trust me, I can do it.”

“I want to share the challenges,” Veronica continued her argument.

“I’ve been trained for this,” he whispered in her ear and she just nodded.

He flipped the card over and read, “Strip down to your skivvies and enter the water at point A and swim under the ice and exit at point B, when your body temperature reaches normal you can proceed to the next clue.”

“Oh God,” Millie said as she overheard Logan read the clue, “that sounds terrifying.”

“I look pretty good in my skivvies,” Logan winked at her and she blushed as Veronica just rolled her eyes.

There was a medical tent set up and as Logan stripped they took his current body temp, 97.7 and asked a few questions, the only one Veronica caught was, “have you ever had a heart attack?”

Logan answered everything as Veronica worried this was too big a risk.

“Is this safe?” she asked the Global Challenge staff, but Logan answered, “I’ll be fine.”

Logan came out of the tent in his boxer briefs to whistles and cat calls from Chip & Reichen. He smirked as he pulled the goggles down over his eyes and stepped on to the ladder that would send him under the ice.

It was not a long swim, Veronica had seen Logan stay underwater a lot longer over the years, even before his military training, but she was relieved when he emerged on the other side, realizing she had held her breath the whole time he was under.

They wrapped him in towels and brought him back to the tent as Chuck got ready to go next. Logan’s body temp had dropped but only a couple degrees.

“You in military?” the Korean doctor asked, and Logan nodded. Logan was cleared almost immediately, and Veronica helped him dress, rubbing his arms and legs to warm him up.

“I am wide awake now,” he smiled as he took the clue from the Global Challenge staffer.

“Find your next clue at Subway Station 228,” Logan read, and they returned to their cab.

“Seoul University,” the cab driver said when he saw the number of the station.

About halfway back to the city the traffic was gridlocked, and Logan could see a train passing over an elevated platform.

“Train?” he asked both the driver and Veronica.

Veronica agreed the traffic was miserable and the driver was able to get off the highway near a station. The subway map was insanely complicated, but the use of station numbers helped Logan chart a course and soon they were stepping off the train at station 228.

The station was huge though and finding the clue box took a bit of work. Veronica was sweating under her coat when they jogged up the last set of stairs possible and saw the box.

“That was a lot of exercise,” she panted, Logan was barely breathing hard.

“Strong Hands or Strong Stomachs?” he read the detour.

“Hands,” Veronica said definitively.

“Yeah?” he arched a brow.

“I don’t want to eat weird things and you might not be able to, so what is Strong Hands?” 

“Tae Kwon Do, we each have to break 3 piles of planks,” he smirked.

“We got this!” she high fived him and they headed out to find the Martial Arts Studio.

Veronica had been training with Logan since he got back from the first deployment after they got back together. With her line of work and her time alone when he was deployed, he insisted she have some self-defense training beyond the course she took at the Y when she lived in New York. Veronica loved training with Logan, it was something they could do together that was not sex and she felt stronger and fitter than ever. Not nearly as strong and fit as Logan based on that jog through the train station, but she was wondering if maybe he was part machine.

“I hope Millie picks this challenge,” Veronica mentioned as Logan followed the map to their destination.

“I can’t see Chuck eating gross things,” Logan said.

“True, but she said she wanted to take a self-defense class, this could be fun for her.”

“Tae Kwon Do is traditionally Korean too which is so cool since we are actually in Korea and with its focus on strength and agility, it is really good for anyone to take up, for self-defense or not.”

When they arrived, they slipped off their shoes at the door and approached the instructors stationed with piles of planks for breaking. The men bowed and Logan and Veronica followed suit. Two of the instructors approached and worked with both Logan and Veronica, showed them proper form and timing, which they both already knew, and the men smiled as Veronica demonstrated her high kicks.

“You are ready,” the instructor bowed, and Veronica bowed as they approached the piles of boards.

Veronica got into the proper stance and aimed her punch perfectly breaking the set of 3 boards easily.

“Nice job!” Logan clapped as Chuck and Millie came into the studio with Dave & Jeff right behind them.

Veronica made short work of her task, only failing to break one set and having to do that one over. The instructor bowed, Veronica bowed and then the instructor put his fist out and Veronica bumped fists with him.

Logan was up next, and everyone stopped to watch as he took his place and broke the planks with ease and precision.

“OK, that is kind of hot,” Millie watched with wide eyes.

Chuck just grunted and went up to meet their instructors.

Logan bowed and thanked the instructor, taking the clue he presented from inside his white robe.

“Have fun, Millie,” Veronica waved as they headed back to put their shoes on.

“Proceed to the Pit Stop, Gyeongbokgung Palace,” Veronica read the clue as Logan laced his boots.

“Ooooo, a palace, finally accommodations befitting my beloved,” he batted his eyelashes as Veronica hailed them a cab.

“As someone who actually lived in a palace, I do not think you are one to talk.”

“It was an estate, not a palace,” Logan teased as their cab pulled away.

The grounds of the palace were huge and grand, and it took Logan and Veronica a while to find Mark, but when they did, they were once again in first place.

“You guys really nailed the challenges today,” Mark congratulated them.

“Good luck for us, things we are used to,” Logan shrugged off the compliment.

“The doctor said he had neve seen someone come out of that water with such a good body temp,” Mark narrowed his eyes.

“I am part amphibian,” Logan grinned.

“Well, for your first place finish I am happy to offer you a true Korean tradition, a special tea rite, an ancient art form here in Korea. Adam will see you to your room and you will have time to freshen up before we bring you down for the ceremony.”

“Thank you,” Veronica smiled, and they followed Adam to their room.

The palace was not normally used to house guests, but the Global Challenge staff had worked with the national trust of South Korea to set up accommodations. There were 4 private rooms with a shared bath per floor and since Logan and Veronica were first to arrive, they had the bathroom to themselves.

Both of them washed up and changed into the nicest outfit they had for the ceremony. Veronica was brushing her hair when Logan came back dressed and ready.

“You look nice,” he said with a smile.

Veronica had only brought one dress, a sundress that was perfect in Malaysia but a little cool for this climate. She wore a pair of leggings under it and a cardigan sweater and the result was less beachy, but still nice.

“Thanks, you as always look perfect,” she looked him up and down, his Henley and khakis were neat and fit him perfectly.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek, pulling her freshly brushed hair back into his hands to give him access to her neck.

A knock at the door broke the moment and Logan walked over to welcome Adam back. They walked through the palace, in awe of the art and statuary around them. Adam opened a towering carved wooden door to a surprisingly small room, the ornate floor tiled with a fish motif. There was an old man sitting on a pillow at a low table.

“He does not speak English, just follow his lead, enjoy,” Adam said and left the couple alone.

Once again Logan and Veronica toed off their shoes and padded barefoot to the table. It was a square table with 2 cushions on opposite sides. Logan walked to the far side and they both sat cross-legged like the Korean man.

The table was covered with exquisite cups and tea paraphernalia, sieves and boxes and utensils. The man decanted some hot water and began the intricate preparation. The green tea was served hot in tall narrow cups, but in very small volume, barely a sip’s worth and the ritual was repeated over and over. It was slow and methodical and mesmerizing. 

No one spoke, the room so quiet each drop of the pour was audible, each swallow. Logan and Veronica both watched and followed the ceremony leader while glancing at each other with soft smiles on their faces.

This was something they would never take the time to do at home, in the real world.

When he was finished the man unfolded his legs and stood, Logan and Veronica did as well, he bowed, and they did too and then he left. Logan walked around the table, linked their fingers together and silently led Veronica over to their shoes, which they toed on.

They were silent for the whole walk back to their room and when the door snitched shut behind them, Logan leaned down and picked Veronica up and carried her to the bed, kissed her tenderly and gently pulled off her clothes. His own found the pile forming on the floor and soon the pair were under the blankets, arms around each other, legs entwined as they kissed.

Logan moved to roll Veronica on top, but she stopped him with her eyes and tugged him on top of her, wanting to feel his weight on her body. He nodded, still silent, and moved to where she wanted him most.

The fluffy blankets cocooned them, the silence broken by a quiet sigh or a shuddery moan, but no words were exchanged, until she came under him saying his name as reverently as any sacred word and he followed her, her own name as quiet as a page turning.

They were turning a page on this trip; Logan knew they were, and he was excited to read the next chapter.

TBC…


	12. Down Under

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A whole lot happens in this chapter.

Veronica woke up in a palace. She stretched and rolled over to find the man she loved sound asleep on his stomach, his gorgeous back bare to the soft morning light. The white sheet cut a distinct line on his tan skin and she knew if she tugged that sheet down a little further, she could see his adorable butt. 

“You looking at me?” he mumbled into his pillow.

“Yep,” she said honestly and with the knowledge that he was not so sound asleep, she tugged that sheet right down.

“Didn’t you get enough of me last night?” he sounded not quite as put out as the comment indicated.

“Never,” she declared.

“Good,” he half mumbled, and half yawned.

They had spent most of the night wrapped up in each other. They emerged long enough to have dinner with the group but took dessert back up to the room. They never ate it.

The palace was lovely and their room and bed extremely comfortable, but the shared bathroom meant Veronica had to slip on some clothes, which Logan grumbled about.

“I’ll be right back,” she kissed his bare shoulder.

As she was returning from the bathroom. A young Korean man was dropping off a room service cart. They had been told that breakfast would be delivered along with their clue and since Logan and Veronica had won the last leg, they got theirs 30 minutes early.

“Breakfast is served,” she announced as she entered the room to find Logan in low slung pajama pants, his short hair matted in an amusing way eating the dessert from the night before.

“Oh good,” he said with his mouth full.

Veronica poured coffee and Logan read the clue.

“Go to Hangang Peoples Park on Yeouido Island and tug on the kite string to get your next clue.”

“Food first,” Veronica smiled and sat on the bed with a plate of food.

Once they had eaten and gotten cleaned up, Logan and Veronica were allowed to leave the palace before the other teams. They got a cab easily and the driver knew where they were headed.

It was cold and windy, but the kites flying in the sky were a bright beacon on the horizon.

“There!” Logan pointed and the cab driver nodded.

When they got to the park there were quite a few people flying traditional intricate kites, but the kites they were looking for had Global Challenge colors and clues dangling from them. Veronica chose one and pulled until the clue was close enough for Logan to jump and grab it and then she let the kite go back to its moored height.

“Fly to…” Logan trailed off with a huge smile on his face.

“Where? Where?” Veronica vibrated against him.

“Fly to Brisbane, Australia…”

“No way! Australia,” she beamed at him.

“…and check in with the concierge at the Roma St. Hotel at the Transit Center.”

“Koala bears! Kangaroos!” Veronica recited as they headed back to their cab.

“Surfing!” Logan added and she rolled her eyes at him.

“You can surf at home,” she said after Logan asked the cab to take them to the airport.

“Not like in Australia, best surfing in the world.”

“Well if there are any surfing challenges, they are all yours,” she patted his knee as they drove into the morning mist that had hit Seoul.

“It’ll be warm again,” he mentioned.

“So excited.”

The airport was bustling when they got there and Logan was able to find a non-stop flight to Brisbane, it didn’t leave for a few hours though, so the other teams were sure to catch up. Veronica bought a postcard of the palace they stayed in and a couple others for the scrapbook. They were able to get some Wi-fi and sent Keith a few pictures including the one of the whole group on the beach in Malaysia.

“Look Dad, I can make friends,” Veronica wrote as she noticed how fondly Millie was looking at her in the snap.

“Think we’ll be vacationing in Alabama to visit Millie and Chuck?” Logan asked as he led them to a coffee shop.

“No, but I would love to have them come visit us in California,” she grinned.

The flight was long, and Logan and Veronica shared a 4-seat row with Chip and Reichen. Veronica curled into Logan as soon as the seatbelt sign was off and was asleep before the meal service.

They flew overnight and by the time breakfast service was served, Veronica was awake, changed in to shorts and a tank top and ready for the day. It was only 6:30 am when they got off the plane and raced to get to the hotel on the clue card.

While many of the teams headed for cabs, Logan tilted his head towards the sign for the train.

“This hotel is at a place called the Transit Center, I bet there is a train that goes right there,” he said, and Veronica nodded.

Logan asked at the ticket counter and sure enough they didn’t even need to change trains, they would be there in 25 minutes, he bought the tickets and a train arrived within moments of them hitting the platform.

The train was bright and cool and not very crowded, the pair took a seat and got their first views of Australia.

“Have you been here before?” Veronica asked, thinking she remembered a trip when they were younger.

“Never Brisbane, but Sydney and Melbourne a few times when I was a kid. Mom loved it here, it’s an amazing place,” he squeezed her hand.

From a distance, through the train car, Veronica could see Millie and Chuck on the next car, and she waved. Millie waved back.

“Do you think our relationship is healthy?” Veronica asked suddenly.

“Yeah,” Logan said definitively.

Veronica just nodded.

“Do you not think it is?” he asked cautiously.

“No, I do, I just worry that my definition of healthy is fucked up.”

“Our relationship is not textbook traditional, between our work and our pasts, it is…” he hunted for the right word, “complex. I don’t think it is dysfunctional though,” he laced their fingers together and kissed her hand.

“Good,” she nodded and that was the end of that.

When the train pulled in the two teams both saw the sign for the hotel immediately. When they entered the lobby, the concierge was waiting for them.

“Let me escort you to your destination,” he said and took a key card from his desk.

Once in the elevator, the concierge tapped the key card on the panel and hit the button for the penthouse.

“Your clue is on the balcony,” he informed as the stepped off the elevator.

“Thank you,” all four team members parroted at once and headed out to the balcony, the day was sunny and already quite warm.

The clue box was full, their plan to train it was a good one.

“Oh look, babe, a hotel rooftop,” Veronica said with an edge, remembering a dark night when she thought her world was ending.

“Complex, remember,” Logan kissed her temple as he tore open the clue.

“Face First or Feet First,” Logan read and both teams listened, ”Face first is an Australian face first repel down the side of this hotel and feet first is you go down the stairs to the lobby cross the street and up the stairs to the roof of the Sheraton to get your clue.”

“Face first,” both Millie and Veronica said at once.

“Are you sure?” both Logan and Chuck replied.

“Yeah, I got over my fear of heights in Italy,” Veronica assured, and Millie just nodded and bit her lip.

“We have to go one at a time, do you want me to go first?” Logan asked.

“Yes, I want to have you on the ground as incentive,” Veronica winked, and Logan geared up with the crew.

Chuck had to man up as well and soon both men were sitting on the ledge of the roof with their feet dangling over the edge.

“My stomach is flippin’” Millie admitted.

“Mine too, I am nervous for him and nervous for me. I should’ve gone first,” Veronica answered as she donned her own harness and helmet.

“Too late, babe,” Logan looked over his shoulder and grinned.

“Be careful, I need you in pristine condition later,” Veronica grinned back.

The crew gave the all clear and Logan tipped forward and planted his feet on the side of the building. Chuck stayed seated.

“You can do this, Chuck,” Logan encouraged, “it is just walking down a hill.”

Chuck nodded and scooted himself off the edge, not as gracefully as Logan, but he was doing it. Veronica watched Logan and when he was about 1/3 of the way down, she yelled to him, “Your ass looks fabulous in that harness!” just as Chip and Reichen appeared.

“Oooo, let us see!” Chip said and they leaned over on each side of Veronica, “Girl, you are one lucky lady!”

“Don’t I know it.”

Veronica and Millie got situated on the ledge of the roof when the guys were close to the bottom.

“I’m not sure I can actually do this,” Millie lamented.

“It does go against like every fiber of self-preservation,” Veronica thought as she remembered how that night on the roof of the Neptune Grand had ended.

Logan hit the ground with his usual sense of style and a whoop of excitement.

“Come on, Veronica, it is so fun!” he yelled up the 200 feet to where the love of his life was a tiny speck.

Chuck was not quite down yet, and Veronica wanted to wait for Millie.

“Go ahead,” Millie encouraged, “it will help me to see how you do it.”

“OK, but you can do this. Guys, you cheer Millie on,” she turned back to Chip and Reichen who were getting geared up to go next and both men flashed thumbs ups.

“See you on the ground,” Veronica smiled at Millie and leaned forward as Logan had.

Being lighter was not an advantage in this case, Veronica had to rely more on the actual ropes than gravity to get her down and she had a hard time keeping her feet on the wall behind her as the slightest breeze blew her off course.

At one point she was just dangling there.

“Um, a little help!” she yelled to Logan who was shielding his eyes against the sun to see her.

“Use the rope, like rock climbing,” another activity she tried for Logan and like surfing she was happy to surrender that to the Logan alone time pile.

Veronica quickly got the hang of the ropes and by then Millie was dangling above her.

“This is insane!” Millie yelled, but she sounded thrilled now and not scared.

“It is amazing!” Veronica looked back and saw her close behind.

Suddenly the ground was approaching quickly.

“I got you!” Logan reached up and wrapped his hands around Veronica’s waist and lowered her the last few feet to the ground.

Her face was flushed and her hair sweaty from the helmet, but she looked breathtakingly beautiful to Logan. He just had to kiss her. For a while. By the time he surrendered her Millie was almost down, so they silently agreed to wait for her.

Chuck hugged her when she got down, but Millie then ran over to hug Veronica too.

“Thanks, I only agreed to do this because you did,” she whispered in Veronica’s ear.

“You kicked ass,” Veronica hugged her back.

The crew handed each team their next clue.

“Take a marked car from the hotel parking garage and drive to Underwater World in Mooloolaba,” Chuck read.

“I was hoping it was going to say go hang out with koalas, but ok,” Veronica shrugged, and they all headed to the garage as Chip descended the side the of the hotel.

Logan drove, but Veronica had a much easier time navigating since all the signs were in English. As she pointed to the sign for Underwater World, she realized it was some sort of Aquarium. Logan pulled into a parking space with Chuck right behind him.

They entered the building and followed race flags to a glass tunnel with all manner of fish swimming overhead.

“Roadblock,” Veronica read, “just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. I’ll do it,” she told the staffer.

“Yeah?” Logan asked.

“You’ve done the last two, this is a partnership,” she squeezed his bicep and he just nodded with a smile, “I imagine I am going in there?” she hooked a thumb at the tank as she flipped over the card, “Put on full scuba gear and swim through the ocean tank to the treasure chest of clues to get your next location.”

Chuck had already agreed and was getting the scuba gear on, so Veronica hurried back to the changing area. She pulled out her trusty red one-piece and got the wetsuit on easily. Veronica had never scuba dived before, but this was just a short swim. The instructor gave her and Chuck a quick lesson and then the aquarium’s naturalist spoke to them about what they were going in to.

“If you need to put your feet down, make sure you are not stepping on a shark or ray, they will bite you. You can’t trust the animals, try to keep from flailing or splashing. We swim in there all the time, but the fish do not like sudden movements. There are over 100 sharks in that tank, most of them are bigger than you, they have the right of way. Any questions?” the young woman asked.

“Nope,” Veronica stood ready to go and Chuck grudgingly followed her.

Logan and Millie waited in the tunnel.

“This is nuts,” Millie watched the sharks swim by as she worried her thumb nail.

“Sharks do not want to eat people, they will be fine as long as they don’t freak out,” Logan promised.

“Veronica is amazing,” Millie said dreamily.

“She is,” Logan agreed easily, knowing Millie had no idea just how amazing.

“You guys seem so perfect together.”

“Now, we weren’t always,” Logan said honestly.

“Chuck and I have been together since we were 14 and I still don’t think we are quite right together, I keep thinking it will get better,” Millie had no idea why she felt so comfortable talking to Logan, but he seemed wiser than his years.

“Veronica and I have known each other since we were 12, but we haven’t been together full time since then. We dated for a bit in high school and again college and then we didn’t see each other for 9 years. We grew up and figured ourselves out.”

“How long have you been back together?” Millie asked.

“Four years, but I am away a lot,” he said sadly.

“That must be hard on both of you,” Millie patted his shoulder and suddenly there was action in the tank.

Veronica was climbing down the ladder to the tank floor. She took a moment to orient herself and make sure she could really breath with the tank and as soon as she was set, she started swimming. Remembering the instructions, she kept her arms tight to her body and relied on her legs and the flippers to propel her.

It was magical, the fish of all sizes and colors swam around her, curious and beautiful. The rays were so majestic and the sharks imposing but gorgeous.

“Look at how close that ray is,” Logan pointed as one skimmed Veronica’s head.

Chuck was walking instead of swimming, carefully placing one foot in front of the other.

“Chuck looks like a fish out of water and Veronica looks like a mermaid,” Millie laughed.

Other teams were arriving, and the mystery of the roadblock was blown as they saw Veronica and Chuck in the tank.

“Uh uh, no way,” Monica shook her head as she got a good look at the sharks.

Veronica made it to the clue chest and snagged a clue and then just enjoyed the swim back. A shark got close, closer than she could imagine seeing one ever and her eyes went wide.

Logan laughed at the look he could see even through her mask and mouthpiece.

Chuck was not too far behind and as Veronica approached the ladder, Logan moved back to the changing area grabbing her sundress from her pack and getting a towel from the staff.

“That was amazing!” she said as she entered the changing room, her hair wet and her wetsuit half off.

“You are amazing,” he kissed her and wrapped her in the towel, “so amazing,” he hugged her close warming her up and drying her off enough.

She ran the towel over her hair, pulled it up into a messy bun, strapped on some Teva’s and slipped the sundress on over her damp bathing suit. As soon as she was dressed, they got their next clue.

“Proceed on foot to the Pit Stop, the Mooloolaba Yacht Club,” Logan read as Veronica shouldered her pack.

They emerged from Underwater World into he bright Australian sun, it was only late afternoon and the sun was still high in the sky. Logan asked the parking attendant where the Yacht Club was, and he pointed them down the main road.

“About a kilometer, Mate, just head for the water,” he smiled.

“Thanks,” Logan waved.

“No drama,” he smiled.

The main road was a mix of high-end gift stores and fish & chip shops, wine bars and a couple boutique hotels. They moved at a decent clip, but still looked around, enjoying the summer vibe so familiar to them from home.

After a moment, Logan stopped and backed up a step or two. Veronica hadn’t noticed at first, her eyes focused on the end of the road where the boats bobbed on turquoise water. Finally, she noticed he wasn’t beside her.

“Hey!” she yelled back at him.

He just nodded his head at what he was looking at and she retreated to him.

“What’s up? We’re almost there,” she was looking at him, but then she turned to see what he was looking at.

A jewelry store.

“Let’s get a ring,” he said simply.

“Chuck and Millie are right behind us,” she said at first thinking of the race.

“So what, we already have this thing won, we can come in last today. Let’s get a ring,” he repeated.

“We aren’t really dressed for it,” she looked at both of them and their giant packs.

“If we buy something, I promise the proprietor will not care.”

“OK,” she said softly.

They entered the jewelry store and the air was cool and dry, it smelled like flowers, hibiscus maybe. An older man came out from the back.

“G’day there folks, what can I do for you?” he smiled warmly, he was wearing dress shorts and a short-sleeved button-down shirt, neat and professional but summery. He did not seem to mind their casual outfits.

“We are looking for a ring, for my fiancé,” Logan said the word for the first time.

Was that what she was? There had been no formal proposal, although she had pretty much asked him in India. It was known to him though, that they were now going to get married.

“How wonderful!” the man said, “Where are you folks visiting from?”

“California,” Veronica liked this guy.

“A lovely part of the States,” he nodded and opened a case, “I know diamonds are traditional for this sort of thing, but we have some lovely Australian opals, blue like your eyes,” he nodded at Veronica.

She approached the counter, nervous and excited, for more than the ring itself but all it meant for them.

“These are beautiful,” she sighed at the gorgeous rings in front of her.

Logan let her look, he didn’t care if she wanted one of those candy pop rings, as long as she wanted him.

“Lo,” she nearly whispered, “what about this?” she pointed at a ring that was silver or white gold or platinum, with a decent sized opal set between two smaller diamonds.

It was special but not over-the-top, it was sparkly, but not huge and it was the perfect shade of blue.

“It is very pretty,” he kissed the side of her head.

Veronica looked at a couple others, picked them up and held them to the light, slipped them on the tip of her finger to feel the weight, but she went back to the first one.

“Put it on me?” she asked shyly.

“Can I?” he asked the man behind the counter that Veronica had completely forgotten about.

“Of course,” the man nodded.

Logan untangled the price tag that dangled on a string and slipped the ring on Veronica’s left hand. It fit. Perfectly. Her eyes went wide at that and at how absolutely right it felt on her hand.

“Yeah?” he asked, seeing the look on her face.

She just nodded; her voice too raw to squeak out a word.

“We’ll take this one,” he said to the man behind the counter.

“It looks stunning on you, congratulations,” the man seemed genuinely happy.

Logan pulled out his wallet from his pack and handed over his black Amex.

“I have the paperwork for you for customs, if needed,” the man said as he ran the card and snipped the price tag off the ring while it stayed on Veronica’s hand.

When he went back to the office to get all the documents together, Veronica launched herself into Logan’s arms.

“This means what I think it means, right?” she said.

“Veronica Mars, will you keep going on adventures with me, for the rest of our lives? Will you marry me?” he smiled at her and she nodded.

“Yeah, I will,” she kissed him quickly and wiped her eyes before the man came back.

“Best of luck to you both,” he smiled warmly as they waved good-bye and headed back out to finish the leg of the race.

When they got to the yacht club Mark looked relieved.

“We thought we lost you,” he said as Veronica saw Millie & Chuck, Chip & Reichen and Monica & Cherie were already there, “you left the roadblock first.”

“We took a little detour, to get engaged,” Logan smiled, and Veronica held up her hand.

“Oh my God!” a chorus went up.

“To be fair we kind of got engaged in India or before we left or 12 years ago when I first kissed him,” Veronica shrugged, “but it’s official now.”

TBC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as I mentioned a couple chapters back...I am watching this season of The Amazing Race as I write. I had no idea we would end up in Australia! If you read The Orion Protocol, you know I love Australia and have visited a couple times in the past few years. I was so happy to have a chance for them to be there again that I had to have Logan put a ring on it.


	13. Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A magical day in Australia for our newly engaged pair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay on this chapter, I am committed to getting this story finished up in the next couple weeks though. Hope everyone is well!

Everyone was hugging Logan and Veronica and informing the other teams of their news as they arrived at the check-in.

“Well, we are all heading to the beach for the rest of the day for some surfing and relaxing, but if you two want to head to the hotel for a more private celebration…” Mark insinuated to the newly engaged pair still beaming at one another.

“Did you say surfing?” Logan’s eyebrow popped up and Mark laughed.

“Some of the best in the world,” Mark noted.

“Of course, you can surf, babe, you just bought me a giant ring,” Veronica patted his chest so the ring caught the sunlight.

The beach was set up like the one in Malaysia with tents for changing and food. Veronica swapped her sensible red one piece for the black bikini as Logan grabbed a wetsuit that would fit him.

“You sure you don’t mind?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around a lot of bare skin.

“We are in Australia, you have to surf,” she kissed his bare shoulder and then his neck and then his mouth.

“We could come back some other time,” he tossed the wetsuit on the ground and wrapped both large hands around her head, holding her closer and kissing her deeper.

Veronica allowed herself to sink into the kiss for a bit, but then slowed up and backed away.

“Go, surf!” I am going to find a shady spot and read for a bit.

“OK,” he took her hand and scooped up the wetsuit and headed for the beach.

“Please be careful though, this is Australia and any number of things will want to kill you out there,” she frowned for a second.

“I’ll be fine,” he kissed the side of her head and left her under an umbrella.

Veronica watched as he jogged over to the rack of boards that they had available, he tugged on the wetsuit with a grace she always envied and selected a lime green board. Chip and Reichen were also grabbing boards and the 3 guys headed toward the waterline.

Further down the beach, Veronica saw Chuck and Millie with another man she didn’t know. He seemed to be teaching them to surf, that must have been the prize for first place. Well, the ring on her finger was definitely worth giving up first since Logan could probably surf that teacher under the table and she never ever needed to learn.

Logan bobbed on his board for a bit and observed. He watched some others catching waves and riding them in, he looked up and down the shoreline and found his spot long before he ever attempted a wave. This was something new about adult Logan, he was cautious. He had been trained to be by the Navy, but he also had taught himself along the way. It was devastating how much Logan had to teach himself, because his parents were not able to teach him themselves.

The next thing Veronica knew, something was dripping on her. She opened her eyes to find Logan planking above her, no part of his body touching hers, but the wetness from his hair dripped.

“Well, hello, sailor,” she grinned and ruffled the wet hair.

“The waves are killer,” he gave her a quick peck.

“You done?” she looked at her watch and realized an hour had passed.

“I’m starving,” he confessed and hopped off the beach chair, “you?”

“Always hungry,” she nodded and took his hand and they headed up to dinner.

There hotel was back in Brisbane, so a bus took all the teams back shortly after sunset. The Global Challenge crew was already there in the lobby waiting with key cards and soon, Veronica was trying to open her hotel room door with Logan attached to her lips.

“Get a room!” Monica teased as she and Cherie passed by.

“We have one, it’s right here,” Veronica squeaked out between kisses.

Finally, she escaped Logan’s clutches and opened the door properly.

“Hello, fancy hotel room,” she said as she flipped on the hall light that illuminated a huge bathroom and a glorious window view at the far end.

The room wasn’t huge, but it was very well-appointed, and the bathroom was bigger than their living room back home with a deep tub.

“I can make that work,” Logan said with a smirk as they dropped their packs.

“Shower first, then bath, then bed,” Veronica ticked off.

“OK, where do you want to have sex?” Logan asked as he stripped his tee shirt off and toed out of his Teva’s.

“Since when have you underdelivered?”

“All 3 it is then,” he dropped his board shorts to the floor and sauntered over to the giant glass stall shower.

Veronica bit her lip; she was locking this man down. It was an idea that had terrified her once, not all that long ago, but being on this trip, seeing Logan away from the lens of their shared history, seeing him so happy and confident and perfect. She saw what she had always known deep down that he is the best man she had ever known, and she doesn’t even want to think about not being with him forever.

“You coming or should I start without you?” the man in question poked his head out of the shower and she laughed.

“Be right with you,” she promised.

Veronica’s plan was perfect, the hot fast up-against-the-wall sex in the shower took the edge off and allowed them to wash off a long day of travel at the same time. Wrapped in a towel, Veronica explored the room while Logan drew the bath. On the desk she found a bottle of Australian wine and some chocolate with a note: Congratulations on your awesome news! Mark and the Global Challenge Team.

Veronica poured 2 glasses of the wine and delivered them to the bathroom.

“From the crew,” she said with a smile.

“That was nice of them,” Logan took his glass and clinked it with hers.

“To forever. To always,” Veronica smiled shyly.

“My little romantic,” he wrinkled his nose, but she knew he loved it.

The tub full, the pair slipped in and let the hot water relax them even further. They sipped their wine and stayed quiet. When the glasses were empty, Logan moved them out of harm’s way and Veronica turned to face him, draping her body over his and kissing him languidly.

“Forever,” he murmured, “Always.”

Veronica nodded while kissing, which made them laugh and soon she was positioning herself right where she needed to be, and Logan moaned as they came together.

“Go easy on me, it is round 2,” he giggled in her ear and she raised an eyebrow at him.

Logan rolled his ayes and planted his feet as she sloshed water over the side of the tub moving frantically on top of him. They rinsed the tub and themselves and again wrapped in a towel, Veronica brushed out her hair and brushed her teeth. After Logan had done the same, he wrapped his arms around her and hauled her over his shoulder and out to the king-sized bed.

“Admit it, you are marrying me for the sex,” Logan joked as he dropped her in the middle of the bed and dropped his towel on the floor.

“If that were the case, I would have married you that summer before Hearst,” Veronica yawned.

“Oh?” Logan crawled over her and kissed up her bare leg, parting the towel when he needed more access.

“Yeah, you were right, the cuddling was not the best part,” she shivered as his lips found her inner thigh.

He laughed and his warm breath on her hot skin made her shiver more.

“So why are you marrying me?” he looked up from between her legs.

“Because it is basically already done, it just makes it official,” Veronica sat up on her elbows, “you are it for me Logan, forever. This just makes it legal and sparkly,” she wiggled her fingers at him.

“It is sparkly, it is beautiful, you…” he had to clear a sudden lump in his throat, “you are beautiful.”

***555***

There was a little bit of sleep, very little, so when the alarm went off at 6:00 am Logan flailed at it and swatted it harder than necessary.

“So early…” Veronica mumbled against his chest.

“Rise and shine, my betrothed,” Logan kissed her messy hair.

“Sleep more,” he didn’t know if that was a question or a demand.

“We are in Australia, babe, we can sleep at home,” he slipped out from under her leaving her face first on the mattress.

“Rude,” she huffed and scrambled up to the pillows.

“I’ll shower first,” he offered.

“You take like 2-minute showers,” she muttered, eyes closed.

Logan just chuckled and headed to the bathroom.

When they were both dressed and repacked, they headed down to breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. Chuck and Millie had already left due to their first place finish the day before.

“Only a few more days,” Monica said as she sat down at the table with Logan and Veronica.

“This is the best yogurt I have ever eaten in my life,” Veronica mumbled around a mouthful.

“What my fiancé meant to say was, yes, Monica it is sad that our trip is coming to an end,” Logan translated.

“You just like referring to her as your fiancé,” Cherie snarked.

“Been trying to give her that title for almost 20 years,” he shrugged.

Veronica was having a moment with her yogurt and missed the whole exchange.

“She might leave you for these high-quality Australian dairy products,” Monica laughed.

“Huh?” Veronica finally looked up and the 3 other people at the table all rolled their eyes.

“I come bearing clues,” a staff person came by and handed them their morning clue.

“Drive 80 miles to Ferny Hills and find the wool shed,” Logan read and checked his watch, they had 10 more minutes before they could leave.

“I’m just going to get a little more…” Veronica pointed to her bowl and headed back to the buffet.

The ride to Ferny Hills was gorgeous, Veronica wanted to stop at every scenic view and take a million photographs.

“We need to come back here,” she mentioned as Logan took a turn towards the wool shed.

“At this rate, we will have to quit our jobs to revisit all the places we want from this trip,” Logan said with a smile.

“We just have to plan accordingly,” Veronica said optimistically.

“We have to make this a priority,” Logan squeezed her hand and she nodded.

As they drove along the bumpy dirt road to the wool shed, they saw the source of the wool.

“Look at all the sheep!” Veronica kept turning her head to see them on both sides of the road, seemingly not penned in.

Logan parked the car and their challenge was fairly evident, in front of them were huge piles of wool, easily 12 feet high. Chuck & Millie were still there, even with the 30-minute head start, digging through one of the piles.

Logan took a clue from the box, just to be clear and sure enough they headed to a pile. The wool has freshly shorn, hadn’t been processed at all, it was full of bugs and dung and it was warm and very smelly.

“The sheep were so cute,” Veronica pouted.

“Dig in, buttercup,” Logan waggled his eyebrows and reached down to grab a pile of wool.

It was already hot at 8:00 am and this work was hard. Veronica was sweaty and dirty and getting grumpy when Logan emerged from a part of the pile with the clue in hand.

“Stop and feed the kangaroos and then head to the airport to fly to Cairns, head to Wangetti Beach,” Logan read.

“Kangaroos?” Veronica smiled.

There was a sign with a kangaroo painted on it that pointed to the left, they walked for a short distance and then in the distance they could see them. There were dozens of kangaroos and wallabies of various shades and size hopping around on a huge open plain.

A Global Challenge staff person approached them with 2 small paper bags.

“The flight to Cairns is in 2 hours, airport is about a 20-minute drive, plan accordingly,” he smiled.

“We can just go up to them?” Veronica asked cautiously, some of the kangaroos were quite large.

“Yes, this is a rescue, they live here and are hand fed regularly. You should be cautious, but not afraid.”

That was all Veronica needed to know. They found a shady spot with a group of animals lounging about. Veronica shook out a few of the pellets from her bag and held her hand out. Finally, a smaller kangaroo approached and sniffed at her, before hoovering the pellets from her hand.

“Oh my God,” Veronica laughed as the animal nudged her and she reached out to gently pet it. Logan got the camera from Veronica’s pack and snapped a few photos.

They stayed with the roos for half an hour before Logan tore her away to head to the airport.

“They are like bigger versions of Pony,” Veronica kept looking back over her shoulder as they headed for the car, wanting to take one back with them.

“Pony is catching up with them,” Logan snorted.

The flight to Cairns was short and easy compared to the long-haul flights they had endured recently. All the teams were on the flight and everyone was talking about the kangaroos.

Once on the ground in Cairns they found their car easily, but there was no map or GPS. Logan exited the airport and sure enough a gas station and convenience store was easily located. They bought some snacks and a map and talked to the cashier about the quickest way to Wangetti Beach.

If Veronica thought the ride to Ferny Hills was gorgeous this made that look like the interstate at rush hour. These roads were windy through a tree canopy that hinted at bits of turquoise ocean just beyond. Veronica rolled down her window and heard see birds and could smell the ocean.

Logan navigated with ease and soon they were parking in the marked area at Wangetti Beach. A clue box revealed a detour, but Logan knew there was no choice here.

“Saddle or Paddle?” he asked with a wink.

“Saddle? Horses?” Veronica lit up.

“We ride the beach looking for marked areas that may have our clue. Might take a while, the other one would be quicker….” He teased.

“Horses? On an idyllic beach in Australia? Yeah, we’re doing that one,” she snagged the clue out of his hand and headed towards the sign for Saddle.

A Global Challenge employee got them geared up, the pair each pulled some pants out of their packs to make riding more comfortable, pulling them on over their shorts. They donned helmets and the staff went over the rules and showed them to their horses.

Veronica found a smaller horse, chestnut brown, named Gulliver and Logan picked a black horse named Mercury. Logan helped Veronica mount her horse, before hopping on to his with ease. The horses were calm and used to trotting along the beach. The wind lifted Gulliver’s mane and Veronica’s hair and for a second, she thought she might be dreaming.

They headed down one side of the beach. When they found a marker Logan would dismount and open the clue. Each one he found said “Try again”. Normally this would have frustrated Veronica, but the longer it took to find the clue the longer she got to ride Gulliver.

“Logan, look,” Veronica pointed out towards the ocean as pelicans flew in formation, low right over the water.

Logan just grinned at her as they stopped to watch. One pelican broke rank and headed back, dropping down to snag some lunch and then stopping to sit on the water and enjoy it.

They reached the end of the perimeter in one direction without finding the clue, so they headed back the other way, working the horses up to a faster pace as they saw another team just arriving at the detour site. The first flag in the other direction revealed an actual clue.

“Drive to Julatten and find Off Road Rush,” Veronica read as Logan took off his helmet.

Veronica nuzzled Gulliver good-bye and Logan laced his fingers through hers as she grudgingly left the horse’s side.

Logan found Julatten on the map they already had, and it was a short ride to the next stop, which seemed to be some sort of adventure sports venue.

“Roadblock,” Veronica read and then she smiled so wide she could hardly speak, “who has the need, the need for speed?” she cackled.

“Well, that is obviously me,” Logan pointed at his chest.

“I think they literally wrote this clue for you, fly boy,” she smacked him on the shoulder and handed him over to the crew to suit up.

Logan put on a jumpsuit and helmet and loaded into an open top dune buggy. He had a handler with him, but he got to drive the course. It was windy, bumpy and muddy, rutted with holes that could flip the car without a second thought.

Veronica could hear Logan hooting with glee as the buggy caught air on one bump and the plume of mud that shot up behind the car when it skidded around a corner was impressive enough that the Global Challenge rep standing with Veronica yelled, “RAD!”

Millie & Chuck and Chip & Reichen arrived to see the last stretch of Logan’s run and everyone smiled as Logan stood from his seat, hanging out the top of the dune buggy, covered in mud, his white teeth shining through his huge smile.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Veronica shook her head, but she was smiling too as Logan climbed, unharmed, from the car.

“I am buying one of those when we get home,” Logan announced.

“And where are you planning to drive it?” she shook her head as she wiped mud from his face.

“I’ll find a place,” he was bouncing on his toes as the crew gave them their clue.

“Here, change your shirt,” the jumpsuit had kept his shorts mud-free, but his shirt was sweaty and gross.

Logan reached up and pulled the dirty shirt off over his head. Veronica gave him a once over with the towel before handing him a clean tee shirt.

“Drive to Ellis Beach on the Coral Sea,” Veronica read the clue as Logan packed up his messy clothes.

“That sounds pretty,” Logan smiled as they headed to the car as Chuck took off in his buggy.

When the pair pulled into the lot at Ellis Beach, theirs was the only car in the lot.

“I think we came back from 5th place,” Logan smiled as they grabbed their packs.

They jogged down to the beach; Veronica almost totally missed Mark as she wanted to walk straight into the perfect turquoise water.

“Over here, V,” Logan called her to the mat, and she changed course.

“You’ll get to enjoy the beach,” Mark laughed as Veronica kept looking back.

“This private cove is ours for the rest of the day. No surfing, I’m afraid, a big reef just off the coast kills the waves, but it also keeps the sharks away and keeps the water calm and cool. You guys are the first team to arrive today, congratulations,” Mark informed.

“Great,” Logan smiled, he was getting as competitive as Veronica.

“Your prize for winning this round is just down the beach there,” Mark pointed to a cabana with flowy white sheets for walls, “a full body massage, beachside.”

“That’s amazing,” Veronica smiled, “never have I needed a massage quite so much.”

“Yes, the trip is nearly over and after all those challenges and all those airplane seats, we thought the winners of this leg could use a little pampering. There is an outdoor shower down there as well to wash up and some drinks and snacks in the cabana. Once your massage is over you can use the cabana for a nap or to lounge out of the sun for the rest of the day.”

“Thank you,” Logan nodded, and he and Veronica headed for paradise.

TBC…


	14. Free Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end is in sight.

Veronica had gotten used to waking up and not knowing where she was on this trip. She wondered if that was how Logan lived all the time on deployments. When she woke this time, it was to Logan’s lips on her bare shoulder.

Her masseuse had encouraged her to drift off to sleep after her massage and that was exactly what she had done.

“Hey,” she turned her head and noticed Logan’s hair was wet, “take a swim?”

“Yeah, the water is amazing,” he rubbed the top of his head sprinkling her with drops.

“How long have I been asleep?” she sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest, still undressed from the massage.

“Almost an hour, I got bored,” he grinned and leaned in for a kiss.

“Everyone else here?” she put her feet on the warm floor of the cabana.

“Yeah, they were a little jealous of our prize,” he scrunched his forehead.

“They should be, it was amazing. Have you ever had a massage with a view of the Coral Sea before?” she pointed at the extremely gorgeous view in front of them.

“No,” he smiled.

“Good, I often think you have done and seen so much more than I have, it is nice to share something new with you.”

Veronica slipped her bikini on and the pair met the rest of the group for food and more swimming before they found a pile of tents and realized the beach was their accommodations for the night.

Logan assembled their tent and helped Monica and Cherie with theirs while Veronica arranged their stuff. It was a cozy little tent and she wondered how the non-romantic pairs would enjoy the close quarters. For them though, she zipped their sleep sacks together into one big one and grabbed them some bottled water.

There was a portable bathroom set up closer to the parking lot with sinks and toilets and everyone washed up and crawled into their tents, exhausted after another day.

“I love sleeping with the waves rolling right outside,” Logan said.

“We do that at home,” she laughed as she snuggled even closer, her leg slipping between his.

“But its across the street and diluted by traffic and annoying people,” he frowned.

“You want to move into a tent,” she kissed his chest.

“No, but maybe a house,” he tested the waters.

“Maybe a house,” she yawned.

“Speaking of those waves?” Veronica said, sounding sleepy.

“Yeah?”

“Did you set us up beyond the tideline?”

“Yes,” he laughed, “we won’t get swept out to the Coral Sea.”

“Good,” she tilted her head up for a goodnight kiss.

***555***

Wake-up call was earlier than usual, apparently their first clue was something that had to be experienced at sunrise. They were handed coffee and breakfast to go as they got in their cars at 5:30 am with a clue to drive 20 miles to Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park.

Veronica found it on the map and Logan headed out of the parking lot, intrigued by this first stop. The sky lightened as they drove to the park which was along the North coast. When the group arrived, they were seen into the park as the sound of the traditional digeridoo surrounded them.

Aboriginal tribe members approached and explained that they started each day with fire and soon a few members of the tribe were making a fire with sticks and straw. Once ignited, they lit a long wooden spear and threw it to the water.

Veronica watched, her hand in Logan’s, as she took in yet another entirely different culture. When the fire was in full thrush, a man approached with a basket of message sticks, wooden tubes with their clues inside.

“Drive to the General Aviation Terminal at Cairns International airport,” Logan read, and he frowned.

Veronica didn’t think anything of it as they headed back to the car.

“How do you feel about sky diving?” he asked when they were inside the car.

“Huh?”

“Only reason I can imagine we are going to general aviation,” he caught her eye as he backed out.

“Oh,” Veronica said quietly, her eyes down.

“Hey, you don’t need to sky dive if you don’t want to,” Logan reached out his hand and clasped hers, “maybe it’s a roadblock or a detour and we can just chose the other thing.”

Veronica just nodded and stared out the window. Could she jump out of a plane? She had never imagined it.

Logan on the other hand was itching to sky dive. If it were a roadblock, he would do it without question, even if he needed to eat a shrimp cocktail on the way down, the EPI pen exists for a reason. If it were a detour though he would do whatever Veronica wanted, sky diving was nothing to trifle with. It was a rush, but just as much a horror. 

They pulled into the parking lot first, getting the clue tagged #1.

“Detour,” Logan said with an arched brow, “Wing It! Or Wander It! We don’t have to…”

“Is Wing It a dive?” Veronica knew it was, they had been leading up to a challenge like this.

“Tandem with an instructor,” he read.

“Let’s do it,” Veronica said with conviction.

“You sure? The other one will take longer, but it is on the ground, well in a boat, but not at 10,000 feet.”

“10,000 feet,” Veronica blinked fast, “no, let’s do it. I have come a long way on this trip, I don’t want to say I turned down a chance to sky dive over the Australian coastline.”

“OK,” Logan nodded and handed the clue to the staff person in the Wing It! area. 

They had a very quick introduction to their instructors, a pair of strong good-looking Australian men.

“Either of you jump before?” one of them, Angus, asked.

Logan raised his hand, “I fly. Planes. For the Navy,” he metered out the info seeing the smile on Angus’ face grow with each nugget.

“Awesome, mate, good for you!” Angus clapped him on the back.

“I generally like to stay inside the plane, with a glass of wine,” Veronica answered for herself and the other guy, Luke, smiled fondly.

“It’s OK, Veronica, I’ll take care of you,” he was younger, but Veronica trusted him.

They geared up and loaded into the little prop plane.

“Got a pilot with us, US Navy,” Angus informed the pilot.

“Well, crikey, what am I here for,” the guy laughed.

“I’m bailing at 10,000 feet, so this is all on you,” Logan shook his hand and soon they were taxiing and lifting off the tiny runway.

Veronica pulled her knees in and looked out the open door, that alone was shocking, she had never been in a plane with the door open.

“Is that safe?” she indicated the open door to Logan.

“We won’t be going high enough for the pressure to be a problem. You OK?” he tucked a stray bit of hair under her helmet.

“Groovy, mate,” she said with a huge fake smile and the two Aussies laughed.

“You are going to love this Veronica, you will become a dive junkie,” Angus promised.

“I used to go to a great spot in Palm Springs, over the desert, gorgeous,” Logan waxed nostalgic, “before the Navy gave me plenty of opportunities to evacuate aircraft.”

“How many opportunities?” Veronica looked shocked.

“We train for evacuation, never had to in an actual emergency,” he assured her. Logan rarely flew any more now though, so this was a treat.

Veronica didn’t ask any more questions she didn’t want answers to, she just looked out at the coastline and wispy clouds below them.

“Angus, Luke, we’re just about there,” the pilot announced, and the two instructors hooked up, Angus to Logan and Luke to Veronica.

“You could probably go on your own, Logan, but the company insured for tandem,” Angus explained.

“No worries, happy to just watch,” Logan smirked.

“Keep your arms tucked in until we are clear of the plane and then feel free to stretch out,” Luke was telling Veronica who listened and nodded, her stomach somewhere around her ears.

“Want me to go first or second?” Logan asked.

“First,” Veronica nodded decisively.

“We’ll only be a minute a part, you will get to see each other on the way down.”

“Drop zone,” the pilot announced, and Angus gave him a thumbs up.

Logan and Angus fell out of the plane with a loud whoop, soon they were spread eagle spinning away and before Veronica saw their parachute go up, she and Luke were right behind them. Luke gave them a 3 count, but Veronica just closed her eyes and let Luke push her.

Once she hit the air, she opened her eyes and spread out her arms and felt the air rush by. It was the most amazing thing she had ever felt. She saw Logan’s chute deploy below them and it slowed them enough that they did catch up to each other, Veronica’s chute deploying and tugging her back a bit.

Logan looked up and saw her though, a huge smile on her face. He gave her a thumbs up and she laughed, returning the gesture.

The view below them was amazing, inlets of coastline and mountains beyond, wispy white clouds skirting both. Veronica kept switching between enjoying the scenery and looking at Logan. The instructors had Go Pro cameras and took a few pictures that would be available via the Global Challenge portal after the trip.

Logan reached the ground first and Veronica could see him pull his knees up, letting Angus take the initial hit and then he dropped his own feet and ran to a stop, turning quickly to watch her approach.

“I’ll get us down, you pull up like Logan,” Luke instructed.

It was unnecessary as Luke’s legs were so much longer than Veronica’s that even when she untucked, she still was hanging off the front of Luke until Angus and Logan came to help remove the harness.

“Good?” Logan asked with a laugh as Veronica launched into his arms.

“Why have we never done that before?” she beamed.

“Same reason we haven’t done any of these things, all work, no fun,” he kissed her forehead as he removed her helmet.

“You guys were killer, great jump,” Angus offered them both high fives and Luke smiled shyly and handed them their clue.

“Fly to Hawaii and find the Southern most point of the United States,” Veronica read with glee.

“I know exactly where that is,” Logan wrapped an arm around her shoulder and went to find their bags and get a cab to the airport.

The quickest way to get to Hawaii from Cairns at that time of day was via Tokyo. As Logan booked their seats, a Global Challenge staffer approached the desk and told the agent to bump them to business class for both legs.

“I thought we couldn’t fly business class?” Logan looked perplexed.

“Remember that leg you won in India and Mark told you your prize would happen later in the trip? This is it, enjoy!”

The agent printed their business class tickets and they headed to the Qantas lounge for some champagne and snacks before take-off.

“It’s almost over,” Veronica lamented, knowing that they only had a couple challenges left over the next few days of travel.

“Is it? Seems like we are just getting started,” Logan kissed her.

“You are so sappy,” she smiled into the kiss.

“I really am.”

The other teams were informed of Veronica and Logan’s upgrade, so they wouldn’t worry they missed the flight. They should have been jealous or angry, but everyone loved them, and they were so damn good at all the challenges that no one complained.

The flight from Tokyo to Honolulu was overnight and the business class seats went completely flat and had full sized pillows, real sheets and fluffy blankets. For the first time on this trip, Veronica slept soundly on a flight. They were woken shortly before landing and fed a nice breakfast, so when they landed in Honolulu, they got off the plane refreshed and ready to go.

Logan had spent a decent amount of time in Hawaii both as a tourist and as a member of the US Navy. He knew exactly where they were headed. They found the marked cars in the lot easily and after stowing their bag Logan put their destination in the GPS.

“Kaulana Bay?” Veronica asked.

“Southern most point in the US,” he assured her.

Once they got clear of the airport the drive was gorgeous, winding roads and ocean peeking out between a new variety of trees.

“I never realized how much I loved the ocean,” Veronica admitted.

“We take it for granted, it is always there for us, but imagine growing up in like Nebraska?” Logan grinned.

“I can’t, I can’t imagine not seeing the ocean every day. I mean when I lived in New York I didn’t see it every day, but with the rivers and the ocean not too far it was manageable, especially with how busy I was, but now, can’t imagine it.”

“One of the reasons I went for the new assignment was it meant I could pick my base, if I had stayed in the flight program they could have moved me, us, anywhere and I didn’t want you to have to leave your dad. I mean, I hoped you would’ve gone with me, that was presumptuous,” he frowned.

“I would’ve gone with you, even to Nebraska,” she assured him, “but I would have complained about it. A lot.”

Logan chuckled as they started to see signs for Kaulana Bay. They parked in the marked spot and saw the clue box down on the sand.

“Roadblock,” Veronica read, “who is a strong swimmer and good with their hands?”

Logan snorted.

“That is you, on both counts,” Veronica waggled her eyebrows and told the staff person Logan would be doing the task.

“Swim out to the tiki markers and dive down to grab one of the white rocks, bring it back and chisel it open to reveal your next clue,” he read the back of the clue, “Got it.”

Logan stripped down to his boxer briefs and strapped on a mask and snorkel.

“Be careful, sharks you know,” Veronica bit her bottom lip.

“I’ll be fine,” Logan said, his voice nasally from the mask.

In a few strides the water was deep enough and Logan dove in and came up with a strong clean crawl stroke, headed right for the tikis. Other teams began to arrive and decide on who was doing the Roadblock.

“Sleep well?” Monica asked with a smirk.

“We did, it was a nice surprise,” Veronica said, not bragging but genuinely happy with their luck.

Logan was at the tikis and she saw him dive down to find the rock. Veronica was enjoying watching everyone skittering about in their underwear, but all eyes were definitely on Logan as he emerged from the water, rock in one arm and the other reaching up to remove his mask and brush the water from his hair.

“Is he real? I mean, my husband is a professional athlete and he does not look like that,” Monica sighed.

“Your husband is a professional athlete?” Veronica asked, not taking her eyes off Logan who was moving towards her.

“Football, he plays for the Atlanta Falcons,” Monica said.

“That’s the one with touchdowns, right?” Veronica grinned and Monica laughed.

“Tools, Ma’am?” Logan asked and Veronica forgot she had the bag with the hammer and chisel in it.

“Um, yes, Sir. Here you go,” she handed over the bag with a jut of her chin.

“You two are going to role play this later, little handy man fun?” Monica grinned as Cherie emerged with her own rock.

Logan just threw Monica a wink and crouched down to go to work breaking up the rock. It was harder than it looked, but once he got the right angle it shattered, and the clue emerged. Logan handed it to Veronica as he went to find his pants.

“Where to?” Logan asked as he pulled his tee shirt on.

“Volcanoes National Park,” Veronica reported.

“OK, about an hour and a half drive, you ready?” Logan shouldered his pack, and, on her nod, they headed to the car.

“Were you and Monica objectifying me?” Logan asked casually.

“Did you know her husband plays in the NFL?” Veronica dodged the question.

“No, really?”

“Yeah, and I don’t objectify you, I admire your exterior self,” she laughed.

“Potato Potahto,” he smirked.

Veronica had spent a couple days in Waikiki once, when Logan returned home from a deployment, but they hadn’t ventured off the resort grounds or out of their room. So, this trip was a chance to actually see things in Hawaii and Volcanoes National Park was amazing.

“Wow,” Veronica exhaled as she looked out over a plain of hardened lava, black as night.

“I think the clue box is over there,” Logan pointed, and they headed out across the park.

“We’re going to win,” Veronica stopped walking and Logan pulled up when their joined hands tugged between them.

“We could come in dead last on this final leg and still win,” Logan pointed out, “thanks to the cumulative point system.”

“I know, but since we are going to win any way, I really want to win the last leg,” she said as she started walking again and faster now as other cars pulled up.

The clue box revealed their next destination.

“Find the anchor from the USS Arizona in Phoenix,” Logan’s smile was a mile wide.

“Oh, come on, this is too easy,” Veronica laughed.

“Every Navy person on the West Coast makes the pilgrimage,” Logan snapped the clue box closed and they headed back to the car.

“We are close to HILO, but KONA will have more flights,” he said as they got to the car.

“OK,” she agreed, the adrenaline surging as she entered it into the GPS.

Because of their lead and good planning, Logan and Veronica had a 30-minute lead on the other teams going into Phoenix and since Logan knew exactly where the anchor was located, he was able to tell the cab driver perfect instructions.

Logan gave the guy a $50 bill to wait for them and they trotted up to the anchor to find their next clue.

“Go to the South East entrance of Sun Devil Stadium,” Veronica read.

The cab driver said he knew exactly how to get there, and Logan and Veronica settled back into the cool cab. The stadium had clearly marked entrances and the South East gate had a clue box right in front of it.

“Solve this riddle to get your final clue: Happy Valentines Day + White + White” Veronica read as they moved into the football stadium.

“It has to be a seat, with the clue on it,” Logan pointed out, “Valentine’s Day, 214.”

Veronica scanned the stadium and found section 214.

“White and White are capitalized,” she noted, “are they names?”

Logan looked around and like most stadiums they had names and numbers of retired players.

“There,” he pointed to one White #33 as Veronica found the other #11.

“OK, ready to run some stairs?” he smiled as section 214 was on the second level.

“I haven’t done this since Hearst,” she grinned, and they ran the cement steps up to the 200 level and broke right to section 214.

“I’ll run up to row 33 seat 11, you go to row 11 seat 33?” Logan proposed and she nodded.

He took the steps 2 at a time and they made about the same time.

“Got it!” he yelled from above her before she even made it down row 11.

Logan ran back down, and they quickly descended the stairs before reading the clue in case other teams arrived and they gave them a hint of the solution to the riddle. Veronica was panting when they hit ground level, so Logan opened the clue and allowed her to catch her breath.

“Go to the West entrance of Papago Park and take the marked bikes along the path to the finish line,” Logan grinned.

“Are you fucking kidding me? We travel all over the world and we are biking the last leg, were you training for this and didn’t even know it?” Veronica laughed but her side still clenched from running the stairs.

Logan rubbed her side stitch and led her back to the cab.

“Papago Park, West entrance,” Logan told the cabbie who had been sticking with them thanks to Logan’s increasing tips.

“This is it, the real end, it is going to be over in a few minutes,” Veronica’s voice shook with nerves or sadness.

“It has been a wild ride,” Logan curled his hand around her neck and pulled her close.

“It seems like we’ve been gone for so long and in other ways it flew by too fast,” Veronica sighed and settled against his warm side.

“Your dad will be glad to have you back,” Logan said.

“And Pony, she will be so excited to see us,” Veronica tried to cheer herself up as the cab approached the park.

Logan tripled the fare on the meter, having exchanged all their cumulated currency in Tokyo and the cab driver wished them well. As expected, a rack of mountain bikes awaited them and a trail with a race flag was close by.

“Ready to ride?” Logan nodded at the bikes.

“Could you do all the work and I’ll sit on the handlebars?” she batted her eyelashes.

“Nope, we are a 50/50 team, remember?” he took her left hand and kissed her knuckles next to their best trip souvenir.

“Yeah yeah, but if I fall off and skin my knee will you kiss it better?”

“Always, I will always kiss it better,” he illustrated by kissing her lips softly and placing the bike helmet on her head.

The bike was easy to learn, only 3 speeds and the path was flat, so she didn’t have to even use the gears much. Biking with their packs was a challenge, but other than that it wasn’t terrible. Veronica wasn’t going to give up her car for the environment any time soon, but it wasn’t horrible. 

The park was pretty enough but after Europe, Malaysia, Australia and Hawaii it was kind of bland. When they got to the end there was another bike rack and they stowed the bikes and helmets. Logan took her hand in his and they walked over the crest of a hill to find the whole Global Challenge crew, everyone they had travelled with for nearly 3 weeks cheering and waiting, they were done and it appeared they had finished first.

They stepped on to the final check-in mat, dropped their packs and smiled.

“Logan and Veronica, 4 Continents, 24 Cities and over 44,000 miles, you have completed Global Challenge with the highest point total we have ever seen,” all the crew cheered louder.

“It was truly a joy to watch you two work together,” Mark reached out a hand and shook both their hands.

“Thanks, Mark,” Veronica said with a huge smile.

“I always do the pairs challenge and I have never seen a team that did not fight once. We were talking before you arrived and no one ever saw you say a mean word to each other or any of the staff. It is a tough trip, lots of jetlag and lots of challenges and you two handled it like pros,” Mark shook his head in awe.

“It really was the most fun we have had in a long time,” Veronica curled against Logan’s side.

“We have challenging jobs, but this was different, these challenges required us to work together, to rely on one another in a different way. I think it was pretty successful,” Logan said as he held up Veronica’s left hand and the crew cheered again.

TBC…


	15. The Edge of the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more stop before they get home.

“Well, we loved having you on the trip. You are officially free, you can arrange your transport home with the logistics team,” Mark said as 3 people raised their hands, “and head out or wait for the other teams. There is food and tables and stuff if you want to wait.”

“We’ll wait,” both Logan and Veronica said at once.

“I can help arrange your transport while we wait,” a young woman named Brooke stepped forward and led them to a table.

“We aren’t very far from home,” Veronica noted.

“Yes, there are lots of flights,” Brooke noted.

“Do we have to fly?” Logan asked suddenly.

“No, what are you thinking?” Brooke asked.

“Want to drive back, we could drive north, stop in Sedona and then head up to see the Grand Canyon?” Logan looked at Veronica.

“I am sure I could take a couple more days off,” Veronica shrugged, “I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon.”

“We can get you a hotel here in Phoenix for tonight and a rental car for the morning. You will have to pay for anything beyond 24 hours of use though,” Brooke said hesitantly.

“No problem,” Logan assured her.

Brooke typed into her tablet and smiled, “all set, I can print your confirmations in the Ops trailer, be right back.”

As Logan loaded up a plate with some snacks, Chip & Reichen and Chuck & Millie checked in, they had waited for each other and crossed the finish together, laughing and hugging.

“You waited!” Millie called and ran over to hug Veronica, “Congratulations! You guys crushed it.”

“Of course, we waited,” Veronica said, her arms around the younger woman.

“Can you believe we were in Australia just a couple days ago? Then Hawaii, I never thought I would see Hawaii,” Millie gushed.

“Mill, we got to go, our flight is in 90 minutes,” Chuck interrupted.

“You’re leaving already?” Veronica frowned.

“I guess,” she looked at Chuck, “was that the only option?”

“I want to get home,” he said petulantly, and Millie nodded, resigned.

“Um, let me give you my email and phone,” Veronica said suddenly, sad to see her go, “we could keep in touch?”

“Really? You’d want to keep in touch?”

“Absolutely, we have weddings to plan,” Veronica winked and took Millie’s phone to enter her contact info, “text me from the cab so I have your number,” Veronica kissed her on the cheek and waived.

Other teams trickled in, some like Chuck & Millie turned right around to head home, but a few teams collected under the tent to swap phone numbers and text each other pictures from the trip. Veronica laid her head on Logan’s shoulder and her eyes slipped shut, as she quickly passed into sleep her head slipped and Logan had to catch her.

“Well, this one looks ready for bed,” Logan smiled as Veronica blearily looked around, “Come on, babe.”

After a round of hugs and promises to keep in touch, Logan and Veronica and their pile of gross gear were in a cab to the hotel in Phoenix. Their room was all set and Logan just had to show his ID to get the keys.

“Almost there,” Logan promised as Veronica yawned again.

“I need to sleep for many many hours,” she said as he pressed the button for their floor.

The room was nice, a big white fluffy bed in the middle was calling to Veronica, but Logan diverted her to the glass shower instead.

“I can’t actually remember the last real shower we had,” he pointed out since their last night’s sleep was in tents on the beach in Australia.

Veronica looked sad but nodded her understanding. Once they were clean and mostly dry, they fell into the cozy bed and even though the sun still shone outside the window, they fell asleep.

Veronica woke hours later, disoriented and thirsty. Logan was on his back next to her, snoring softly, one arm flung across his chest, he looked like it might take a nuclear blast to wake him. After finding her phone and a bottle of water, she went to the bathroom and slipped the door shut, turning the light on and blinking at the harshness of it.

Looking at her phone she realized it was 2:00 am, she used the bathroom, drank the whole bottle of water and brushed her teeth and then slipped back into the bed and rolled towards Logan. His body responded to hers and he rolled as well, curling his arms around her. He smelled like hotel soap and Logan.

The next time Veronica woke, there was breakfast and Logan dressed and looking serious.

“Hey, morning,” Veronica mumbled.

“Morning,” he smiled, but it looked a little forced.

“What’s wrong?” Veronica didn’t like the look on his face.

“Back to the real world,” he shrugged.

“Did you get a call?” she panicked.

“What? No, no, not work,” he shook his head.

“Oh, OK,” she relaxed back against the pillow.

“I did want to talk though,” Logan poured her some coffee.

“Can I put something on?” she asked, feeling at a disadvantage naked.

“Of course,” he smiled again, a little more naturally.

Veronica found an outfit folded on the bureau, her pack on the floor looked suspiciously empty.

“Did you send out our laundry?” she nodded at the bag.

“Yeah, 4-hour rush. I got a late check out too, and breakfast,” he indicated the cart of food like a game show lady.

“What time is it?” Veronica was still a little asleep.

“Seven,” he informed, and she chuckled. Logan was so good at mornings now, even when he could not possibly know what time zone his body was in.

“I’ll be quick,” she took the clothes and went to the bathroom.

When she emerged, there was a bunch of food laid out on the small table. It all smelled delicious. She sat and Logan waited patiently as she drank a full cup of coffee and wolfed down half an omelet and a piece of French toast.

“OK, better,” she smiled at him and he reached over to wipe a drop of syrup from her cheek.

“So, I opted for the drive home so we would have a little time to talk about everything.”

“Everything being?” Veronica looked worried.

“We talked about a lot on this trip and I wanted to make sure you were really on board with all of it before we got home and fell into our regular all work, no fun except really hot sex, life.”

“I want to marry you,” she assured him.

“That’s good,” he smiled and nodded.

“I mean, we’re driving to the Grand Canyon, we could just keep going and hit Vegas and make it official, it already is, we just need the paper,” she rushed through it all.

“That makes me happy, Veronica, but there is no way I am marrying you without your dad there. He has managed to not murder me thus far, why tempt fate?” he winked.

“Yeah, he’d be super pissed,” Veronica agreed.

“It’s not just the marriage part though. We talked about kids and a house and maybe not working as much and using some of my money for stuff,” he laid it all out.

“I will admit, kids terrify me,” Veronica understood now why he wanted to talk, “seeing that little girl in India definitely made me question my firm ‘no kids’ stance though. I think if we pull the trigger on that it has to go hand-in-hand with the maybe not working quite as much.”

“Maybe we try babysitting Wallace’s kid, see if we can handle that?” Logan offered.

“His kid is going to be so fucking cute,” Veronica smiled.

“Yeah.”

“Can you picture our kids? Your height, my temperament, your ears, my eyes…” Veronica said with a sigh.

“How about your ears and my eyes?” Logan smirked.

“I am not saying no, but I do think that one needs more time and a real commitment to less work and not just from me.”

“I know, I can’t be leaving every few days with no warning. I can work on that, maybe move into a different division, more cyber stuff less boots-on-the-ground,” he offered, and she nodded.

“As for a house, I am ready to get out of the shoebox and the spring breakers that invade it every year. Can we compromise on something fairly manageable, that does not require a staff to support?”

“Of course,” Logan was practically bouncing now, “I don’t want that life ever again. I want some fairly big money items, beach and a pool, really big bathroom in our room, but I do not want an estate.”

“OK, let’s look when we get home, you still have some time off right?”

“Yep,” he finally started eating his own breakfast.

“Why were you worried about this?” Veronica asked as she finished off the French toast.

“We’ve had conversations in the past, not about the specifics of marriage and babies, but about the future and then we go back to work, and we don’t prioritize them. You said it yourself before this trip, the timeline for some of this stuff isn’t forever, we aren’t 20 anymore. I was a little nervous that we would get home and you would jump right back to work, and it would be another year before we ever had the talk.”

Veronica took a breath to reply, but Logan carried on.

“And this is not an ultimate, this is not me saying we must have all these things or any of them really, to be happy. I just want to be clear about what the expectations are before we get home.”

“Logan, you deserve a girl who is less fucked up than I am,” Logan looked ready to rebut, “but you are stuck with me. So, thank you for the patience you have shown these past few years. I learned a lot of things on this trip,” Veronica stood and moved over to a more comfortable seat in Logan’s lap.

“Oh yeah?” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I learned that when I need someone it is always you first. Sure, my dad or Mac can help in a pinch and Wallace is willing to listen to me whine while you are away, but my first instinct is always you. I learned kids can be kind of cute and maybe not terrifying. I learned listening to the ocean instead of drunk teenagers yelling near the ocean is a great way to fall asleep. I learned that the world is amazing, and I want to see more of it, and I want to see it with you and maybe in business class. I learned that you make me better, you make me try more and want more and I jumped out of a fucking airplane, Logan, I jumped out of a fucking airplane,” there were tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

Logan stood, his arms still holding her securely and carried her to the bed.

“Is breakfast over, because there was still bacon?” she looked back at the table over his shoulder.

“It’s over,” he smirked as he dropped her in the rumpled sheets and stripped his tee shirt off. The morning sun turned everything buttery yellow and it looked like his body was cast in honey. Veronica scrambled to her knees and removed her own shirt, wiggling to get her shorts off too while running her hands along his chest.

“I get this. Forever,” she said with awe.

“Oh no, I plan on letting myself go the minute you say, ‘I do’.”

“No way, mister. That new house is going to have a pool and a home gym,” she teased as she scooted back on the bed.

Logan pushed their discarded clothes out of the way and stretched out beside her, tucking her messy hair behind her ear, looking into her soul via her eyes.

“We are going to have an amazing life, Veronica,” he kissed her so gently her whole body screamed for more.

She reached for his shoulder, trying to get him closer, to feel his energy, his weight on her. She wanted to be pressed into the bed with him touching her at every point. He complied with her nonverbal cues and she wrapped her arms as far around him as she could, hugging him to her, her perfect man.

Logan pulled back enough to resume the kissing, long slow deep kisses that indicated they really had all the time in the world. When he started moving inside her, Veronica’s body responded in various ways, her back arched to get more, her knees bent to cradle his slim hips, her toes and fingers curled into the sheets and her head tipped back, her breath coming in pants.

There were no actual words spoken, but the non-verbal clues guided Logan until they both agreed that was a good way to celebrate all their big grown-up decisions.

***555*** 

Before leaving for Sedona, Veronica called her Dad.

“Hey Kid, where in the world are you?” Keith answered. 

The plan was always for them to Uber home from whatever airport they wound up at. Since there was no indication of which airport or what time they would arrive, they didn’t want Keith to have to wait on call.

“Phoenix, we finished last night,” Veronica reported.

“No flights home from Phoenix last night?” Keith asked.

“Actually, we decided to take a drive up to the Grand Canyon and then drive home. We’ll be a couple more days, if you don’t need me right away for work,” she asked out of courtesy, knowing her dad had pretty much planned on her very little during Logan’s whole extended leave.

“Absolutely, Veronica, enjoy your time together. The Grand Canyon is worth the drive,” Keith smiled into the phone, “Did you have a good trip though?”

“The best, Dad, it was the best,” Veronica smiled at Logan who was packing their freshly laundered clothes into their packs.

“I’m so glad, honey.”

The hotel was able to pack them a picnic to go and they were in their rental car and on the way to Sedona by noon.

The red rocks were cool, and they found a very picturesque spot to have their picnic, but Logan had a plan and they were back in the car soon after they finished eating.

The light was changing as they entered Grand Canyon National Park, it was still another 20 some miles of long winding roads, but Logan got them to a perfect look out as the sun began to set.

“We’ll come back tomorrow and explore more, but I wanted you to see this,” he said as they got out of the car and stretched.

“Wow,” was all Veronica said as a whisper, “wow.”

He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest and they looked out at the glory of nature.

It was a good ten minutes before either of them spoke.

“I had begun to think nothing was going to beat the Eiffel Tower and feeding that kangaroo and swimming in the Coral Sea, but you managed to find something amazing,” Veronica turned in his arms and gave him a soft kiss.

“Well, I didn’t really find it, it has been here a while,” he grinned, and she wrinkled her nose.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.”

“Are we getting married right now?” she teased.

He looked around and there were tons of people enjoying the same sunset.

“Surely one of these people is ordained in something,” he shrugged.

“Do we need to find a place to stay?”

“I found a place this morning, we are all checked in and everything, electronic key on my phone. Want to head there?”

“I want to stay here until the sun’s gone,” she turned back to the view and took her camera to snap the oranges as they turned to red and the pinks as they turned to purple.

Once the sun had slipped over the horizon the temperature dropped dramatically and Logan drove them to the lodge, he had booked that morning. The room was a huge suite and after Veronica thanked him properly for bringing her to the edge of the world, the had a 5-star room service dinner.

The next day they drove to various points for different views, had a delicious barbecue lunch on a slate patio with yet another incredible view and at around 4pm Logan spoke up.

“It’s about 8 hours home, we could sleep in our own bed or grab a hotel for tonight, preference?”

“You know I will be asleep within the hour, do you have it in you to make the drive? I know you are still jetlagged too.”

“I can manage, code word is endurance, remember?” he winked.

“You were being mean to me when you said that the first time.”

“I was painfully missing you and trying to convince you I was better in bed than Duncan.”

“You are better in bed than Duncan, but I was super dumb back then, so my loss. If you think you can make the drive, I would love to sleep in our own bed tonight.”

As promised, Veronica fell asleep while they were still in Arizona, and shortly after midnight Logan shook her awake.

“We’re here,” he kissed her temple as she snorted alert.

“Where? Australia? Hawaii? Malaysia?” she murmured.

“Neptune. Home.”

“You home,” she said as she blinked.

“I am home too, yes.”

“No, home is you. Not Neptune, you,” she reached over and tugged him close enough to kiss.

TBC….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, there is going to be an epilogue! We have to have a wedding, right?


	16. An Amazing Wedding Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An amazing adventure ends with a wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who went on this literal journey with me. This was a fun story to write. I enjoyed exploring the idea that Logan and Veronica could maybe get to a wedding without quite so much drama and have a wedding that lasted more than 30 seconds. I hope you enjoy the last chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

6 months after the race…

“Can I come in?” Logan knocked on the door softly.

“If you want to risk the wrath of seeing the bride on her wedding day,” Veronica sing-songed.

“I think we are paid up on the bad luck front, been there, done that,” he smirked as he entered their bedroom.

The house they settled on was bigger than Veronica imagined, but still not an estate and their bedroom was big and bright and airy. It faced the ocean; they heard the tide roll in and out from their bed. Veronica was standing in the middle of the room in some small lacy white underthings.

“I thoughtttt…” Logan had to swallow and start talking again, “I thought you weren’t wearing white?”

“I’m not,” she turned from the mirror where she was curling her hair, “at least not on the outside.”

“This is very nice, very nice,” he repeated as he nodded enthusiastically. One finger reached out and traced the thin satin strap of her bra, following it down to trace the low scalloped edge of one cup, “very nice,” he leaned down to kiss the swell of her breasts.

“You look very nice yourself,” she pushed him away, they would never get to the ceremony if he kept that up. She smoothed the lapel of his charcoal suit, the crisp white shirt under it popped, “I have your tie.” 

Veronica moved to the bed and picked up a silk tie in a shade of blue one could only call “ocean” it was not teal or aquamarine or turquoise, it was ocean blue. Logan took the tie from her hand and looped it around his neck, deftly working the knot as Veronica watched his nimble fingers and subconsciously licked her lips.

“People are starting to arrive, are you planning to wear a dress? I know it is hot, but you might want to throw something on.”

“Like the dress matters, it will be off before the last car has pulled out of the driveway,” Veronica teased.

The wedding was small, only about 20 guests on their beach, barefoot in the sand with a reception on the back patio. The caterers had arrived before Veronica got out of the shower and were setting up and her Dad and Wallace were welcoming folks and keeping everything going.

“Monica & Cherie are here and Chip & Reichen just arrived, Dick was showing them the surf shack we built,” Logan had finished the tie and was back to using his nimble fingers on his soon-to-be wife, wrapping the long curls she had worked so hard for around his fingers and letting them slip off.

“Our worlds collide, I hope everyone gets along,” Veronica worried her lower lip.

“They are all here because they love us.”

“Is Shae doing OK?” Veronica asked, Shae had had their baby, little Noah Fennel, just 6 weeks ago and this was the first time they had left him for more than an hour.

“Her mother has Noah, she is fine,” Logan promised, “Stop worrying, everything is perfect.”

“Jinx,” she teased.

“Want me to help you get dressed?” he offered.

“That never ends well,” she countered, and he raised an eyebrow, “OK, it always ends well, but not if the goal is me getting dressed.”

“True,” Logan nodded.

“How about you go dazzle our guests and let me finish up here?”

“I don’t get to see the dress,” it wasn’t a question.

“You do not get to see the dress,” she confirmed.

“Fine. I am more than happy to say I saw the underthings,” he wiggled his finger at her and left.

“Please do not tell everyone you saw my underthings.”

“I think everyone here is aware of how frequently I see your underthings and the things under your underthings,” he used his index finger to track the words of that sentence.

“Please leave before I cancel this whole thing and just keep you in my bed until death do us part,” Veronica pushed him towards the door.

Fifteen minutes later, Veronica had her dress on and her make-up just about perfect when there was another knock at the door.

“No dress, Logan!” she called.

“Not Logan,” a female voice answered.

Veronica opened the door to see Millie beaming at her, her hair in a sleek bob and wearing a gorgeous pink cocktail dress.

“You made it!” Veronica smiled and hugged her friend.

About 2 months after the race, Millie called Veronica and said she was leaving Chuck and moving to Paris. She had saved a bunch of money for her wedding, her own money, and she cashed it all in for a plane ticket and a 3-month sublet of a tiny flat. When the 3 months were up, she hopped a train to Amsterdam and kept going until earlier in the week when she flew home for Veronica and Logan’s wedding.

“Of course, I did. I got to LA 2 days ago and basically slept until this morning’s drive down. The house is as amazing as you said,” Millie gushed.

“Thanks, it was nearly perfect when we moved in, but we did some fast work to get it completely ready for today. How was Berlin?”

“So great, loved it, I’ll email you a bunch of pics.”

“What’s next?” Veronica asked as they sat on the edge of the bed.

“Graduate School, early childhood education at UCLA,” Millie said hesitantly.

“You’re moving to California?”

“I’m totally not stalking you,” Millie held up a hand and Veronica laughed.

“It is amazing, I am so happy for you,” Veronica hugged her again, “you are welcome down here any time you want a break or need some beach time. Logan will teach you to surf!”

“I did have that one lesson in Australia,” Millie laughed.

“How’s Chuck?”

“He called me in Berlin, convinced I would’ve changed my mind by now. I don’t regret it though; I didn’t want to stay in Alabama, and I didn’t want to stay in that relationship.”

“So, what about the guy in Paris, Doug, right?”

“He came to Amsterdam and Berlin with me,” Millie pressed her lips together.

“Millie, did you sleep with him?” Veronica asked, so excited for her friend.

“Not something you email,” Millie shrugged.

“And now?”

“He’s back in Paris. It’s fine, I never thought it was forever, I don’t really want long-term, after all those years with Chuck. Not that forever is bad, says the guest at your freaking wedding!”

“Today is just a ceremony, I’ve had forever with Logan since we were 12,” Veronica rolled her eyes at how sappy she was.

“You look beautiful and your soon-to-be-husband is as hot as ever and definitely ready to get married,” Millie reported.

Just then Keith knocked to let them know it was time.

“Oh honey, you look amazing,” Keith tried not to get too emotional.

“Dad, this is our friend Millie from the trip. Millie, my dad, Keith.”

“We met; Logan introduced us.”

“I’ll give you two a moment, find my seat. Who is the shaggy blonde guy?” Millie asked.

“No,” both Veronica and Keith replied at once and Millie smiled and nodded.

“Got it,” and she slipped out of the room.

“You ready, kid?” Keith took his daughter’s hands.

“I am,” she nodded.

“Seems strange, it hasn’t been just you and me for a long time, but it feels like something is changing today. When you came home six months ago with that rock on your left hand, I knew this was definitely a different Logan and a different Veronica.”

“We are different, and we are the same, we’re just us,” Veronica smiled.

“Well, I am happy to have you both as my kids,” Keith smiled back.

“Please tell Logan that,” Veronica squeezed her hands.

“I did and your big strong Navy man might have teared up a little.”

“Oh, he is a big softie,” Veronica agreed.

“How about we go get you married to him?”

“Ready,” Veronica nodded.

The sun was bright, and it sparkled off the water, Veronica had to squint, but even then, it seemed like a dream, like a mirage. White chairs sat on the well-groomed sand, their small crowd of loved ones: Mac, Wallace & Shae, her Mom & Hunter and Millie on her side and Dick (with Pony at his feet), Chip & Reichen, Monica & Cherie, Trina and her latest boyfriend and Logan’s buddy Derek from the base and his wife Lisa on his side.

Veronica smiled at everyone as she and her dad strolled down the beach. She was barefoot as advertised and her Grecian-style dress was the faintest shade of blue, the same color family as Logan’s tie but so light it did, in some light, look white. There was darker blue trim that matched the flowers in her hands.

Her hair was curled softly and topped with a simple wreath of blue flowers. She looked flawless and effortless at the same time. Keith kissed her cheek when they made it to a clearly smitten Logan, shook his new son-in-law’s hand and took a seat next to Wallace who clapped him on the back.

It was just Logan and Veronica and the judge, there was no way Logan was picking a best man between Dick, Wallace and Derek, so they eschewed that to just stand their together.

“It was worth the wait,” Logan whispered as he leaned in to kiss her.

“This? I just threw it together,” she shrugged.

Logan winked and stood back up to his military posture.

“We are gathered here today,” the judge began, “to help Logan and Veronica enter into the bond of marriage. Logan and Veronica have written their own vows. Veronica,” the woman smiled at the bride.

“Logan, when you love someone for nearly 20 years there are plenty of dreams come true and lots of regrets. Today, we put all the regrets behind us. I know that doesn’t mean it will be calm seas always, you are a jackass and I am stubborn as hell…”

“This explains no church,” Dick whispered loudly, and Veronica shot him a glare.

“…but a little turbulence along the way is different than regret. I promise to always try, even when it’s hard, especially when it is hard. I promise to consider a vegan meal now and then…”

That earned a loud laugh from Mac.

“…and to not eat all the croissants when we go back to Paris next week. I promise to love you, even when I get busy and forget our anniversary…”

“It’s October 4th,” Logan whispered loudly and that garnered a laugh too.

“I promise to love you even when you are snarky,” she just added that on the spot, “ and I promise to be your partner and to let you be mine,” the look on his face at those last words was worth every moment in their nearly 20 years, to see him this happy was worth it all.

“Veronica, I’d like to say that I knew this day would come when I first met you on the soccer field, all skinned knees and pigtails, but I am, as you pointed out, a jackass and it took me a long time to grow up enough to where I could love you and be loved by you. I didn’t know what it meant to love, I knew I felt it and I knew I wanted it, but I didn’t know how to live it every day. It took us a long time to get here, but every day of the past few years has been the most loved I have ever felt,” he reached out and wiped a tear off her cheek.

“I promise to always kill the spiders,” which elicited a ‘praise, Jesus’ from Monica.

“I promise to wash that mutt when she rolls around in dead fish,” he gave Pony some side eye and the dog looked up with a lolling tongue, “I promise to love you always, seems impossible to stop now, and I promise to find something amazing in everything we do together, forever.”

“Veronica, do you take Logan to be your husband?” the judge asked.

“I do,” Veronica nodded.

“Logan, do you take Veronica to be your wife?”

“I do,” he smiled so wide Veronica could see his back teeth.

“The wedding ring is a circle, with no beginning and no end, it is a sign of eternal love. By the exchanging of these rings, you are joining in that circle,” the judge presented the rings.

Veronica took Logan’s ring out of the box and slipped it on his hand. The gunmetal platinum band looked beautiful against his tan skin, like it always belonged there.

“Wow,” he said as he looked at it before picking up the delicate slim band, they picked to go with her Australian opal engagement ring.

Veronica’s hand shook slightly as she held it up and Logan squeezed it before slipping the ring on.

“By the power vested in me, by the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the judge smiled.

“Thank you,” Logan said to the judge before pulling Veronica into his arms.

“Can I kiss you now?” Logan asked and Veronica nodded.

The kiss was sweet and soulful and so many years in the making, it was perfect, and it was going on a little too long for Keith’s comfort. Finally, Pony barked, and Logan smiled against Veronica’s lips.

“That dog has been a cock block since the day we got her,” he whispered in her ear and the judge laughed as Veronica playfully slapped his arm.

It took a few more seconds of smiles and soft eyes, but finally, Logan and Veronica turned to the assembled guests, their hands clasped and their smiles bright. Keith clapped first.

Everyone followed the newlyweds up to the patio where bars were open and appetizers ready.

“I get to say something, my only child just got married,” Keith began as he plucked a flute of champagne off a tray and encouraged everyone else to take one as well.

“Veronica has always been her own person; from the moment she came squawking into this world. She was a handful, I’ll tell you, especially when it was just her and me. I had no idea how to raise a teenage girl who acted like a 35-year-old most of the time and I made a lot of mistakes. The biggest mistake I made was judging Logan too harshly. No dad likes his daughter’s boyfriend, it is a fact, you can look it up – and Veronica and Logan had some tumultuous times, but this man has always loved my daughter and she has always loved him. I am the happiest man alive today, to see them here in this beautiful home with this group of lovely friends and family,” he nodded to Trina who smiled fondly, “starting a new chapter of a very long love story. To Veronica and Logan and all the love of a lifetime,” Keith raised his glass, and everyone chorused “here, here”.

“Thanks, Dad,” Veronica kissed her dad’s cheek.

Music played and more food appeared as Veronica followed a tray of stuffed mushrooms with great interest.

“We have to take pictures,” Logan noted as she stuffed two in her mouth at once.

“I know,” she mumbled and nodded and chased the mushrooms with champagne, “just let me fix my make-up.”

***555***

“I’m worried about the cake,” Veronica said later as she and Logan danced, the sky darkening to a perfect midnight blue.

“What? Why?” Logan looked over fearing an imminent collapse of buttercream.

“It’s not very big,” she said seriously.

“It is supposed to feed 40 – 50 guests, there are 20 people here,” Logan puzzled.

“What if everyone has 2 pieces?”

“Who eats 2 pieces of cake at a wedding?” Logan was truly flummoxed and when Veronica gave him the look he laughed, “OK, except you.”

“I want to have leftover cake.”

“We leave for Paris in 2 days,” he reminded her.

“I can eat a lot of cake in 2 days and we could freeze it! I think we are supposed to freeze a slice for our anniversary or something.”

“I will bet you the sexual fantasy of the winner’s choice that none of that cake will still be in our freezer a year from now.”

“Sucker’s bet, that is a win win, it really just encourages me to lose as your sexual fantasies are always way better for me,” she giggled and kissed him.

“There is plenty of cake and if by some stretch everyone here eats twice as much cake as normal, I will go out and buy you a whole new wedding cake tomorrow,” he kissed her cheek.

“I am not letting you out of bed until the car comes to take us to the airport,” she kissed him back.

“Well you know what they say, you can’t have your cake and eat it too…” he grinned, and she rolled her eyes at him.

From across the patio Mac stood with Millie.

“Have they always been like this?” Millie asked.

“On the inside, yes, on the outside it was a little more…painful.”

“Veronica said they had had some rough patches,” Millie nodded.

“Rough patches are putting it mildly, but they got through it and found each other again. It’s kind of a fairy tale,” Mac sighed.

“Veronica does not strike me as a princess.”

“Oh no, Logan is definitely the princess,” Mac laughed.

***555***  
Veronica was standing guard over the remains of the cake when Wallace and Shae approached with nervous looks on their faces.

“Go, go home to your precious little guy,” Veronica shooed them away, “it’s fine.”

“You sure? You only get married once,” Wallace said as Logan appeared with a glass of wine for Veronica.

“Wait, once? We don’t get to do this every year,” he asked with faux confusion.

“We can do it every year, but we won’t invite everyone, it’s a little gauche to keep expecting gifts for the same wedding. We’ll just put the clothes on and get a cake,” Veronica eyed the cake with nearly as much lust as she eyed her new husband.

“You guys want some cake…” Logan cut himself off with a soft yelp as Veronica stomped on his foot.

Wallace laughed, “we’re good.”

“We are so happy for you both, welcome to the wonderful world of wedded bliss,” Shae said as she leaned into hug Veronica and Wallace and Logan shook hands.

“We’ll be by to visit with the world’s tiniest beret when we get back from Paris,” Veronica took a turn to hug her BFF.

“Be sure to get something for Noah too,” he teased.

“Look at us, all grown and domesticated,” she said as she still held Wallace in her arms.

***555***

“Are you happy, little brother?” Trina found Logan by himself while Veronica and Mac danced to some one hit wonder from the edge of the millennium.

“Really happy, Trina. Thanks for coming from New York.”

“Nowhere else I would rather be,” she smiled, and Logan actually believed it, he might not be the only Echolls who had grown up.

***555***

It was close to midnight when the party finally started to break up.

“Drinks are on me at the first bar we can find, I’m ordering several Ubers,” Dick announced loudly.

“Do I go with him?” Millie asked Veronica.

“Yes, just don’t sleep with him for the love of all that is holy,” Veronica hugged her friend as Logan gave Monica and Cherie directions to their favorite brunch spot for the next day.

“Thank you, guys, for coming,” Veronica said to their race friends who were all planning to hang out together for the next couple days.

“Thank you for inviting us, this is the chillest fancy wedding I have ever been too,” Chip hugged Veronica.

“We’ll have a truly chill beach party when we’re back from Paris,” Logan promised.

“You two deserve all the happiness in the world,” Monica said, “you are just the most perfect couple.”

“Far from perfect, at least this side of the couple,” Veronica pointed at herself, “but we are learning, and we learned a lot from all of you. Life here in Neptune gets a little narrow, we love our friends but they have all known us since we were kids, we needed someone to see us as we are now, to push us to realize we can do anything, even marriage.”

“Bring me some macarons from Paris,” Dick said as he kissed Logan loudly on the cheek and corralled the younger guests out of Logan and Veronica’s house.

“You aren’t going clubbing with Dick?” Veronica asked her dad who was the last one left.

“No, no I am not. I am taking one of his Ubers though, that Scotch on your open bar was very top shelf,” he grinned at Logan.

“Had to impress my new father-in-law,” Logan shrugged.

“I’m going to leave before I cry,” Keith grimaced, “I am truly incredibly happy for you both.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Veronica hugged him for a long time and then he hugged Logan too and that almost made Veronica cry.

“Do not,” Logan pointed at her, “if you cry, he cries and then I cry and we are not crying, we are happy.”

“Aye aye, Lieutenant,” she laughed.

“I’ll come by tomorrow and get my car, don’t worry, I won’t stop in,” Keith grinned.

“Thanks, Dad, for everything,” Veronica kissed him on the cheek, and he left.

“Just you and I now,” Logan said as he surveyed the patio, the twinkling lights were still on, but the caterers had cleared out and everything was back to its normal place.

“Just you and I always,” Veronica corrected before pulling him down for a kiss.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> So....I have done this writing exercise before. I have sent 2 other of my OTPs (Annie/Auggie from Covert Affairs and Chuck/Sarah from Chuck) on an Amazing Race type trip. For this story I am using the locations and challenges from Season 4 of TAR -- you do not need to have watched that or any Amazing Race seasons -- and some of the other contestants from that season. This is not an Amazing Race story though, this is a LoVe story. I hope you enjoy the ride!


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